Cryptocurrency Giveaway Scam with YouTube Live Stream

TL;DR

This paper analyzes a cryptocurrency giveaway scam on YouTube live streams, revealing scam tactics, analyzing wallet addresses, and discussing countermeasures to prevent such frauds.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the scam scheme, including techniques used and potential mitigation strategies, which is a novel investigation into this specific scam type.

Findings

Scammers use recorded videos with fake giveaways to deceive victims.

Scammers' wallet addresses can be analyzed to estimate stolen amounts.

Countermeasures can be implemented to reduce scam effectiveness.

Abstract

This paper investigates the cryptocurrency giveaway scam with the YouTube live stream carried out on 5/15/2022 and 5/16/2022. In this scam scheme, the scammer plays a recorded video of a famous person in a YouTube live stream annotated with a cryptocurrency giveaway announcement. In the annotated announcement, the victims are directed to the scammer's webpage. The scammer's webpage is designed intelligently to deceive victims such that they believe the legitimacy of the giveaway. The scammer claims that whatever donation the victim sends to a cryptocurrency wallet address, the giveaway scheme will double the donated amount and immediately send it back to the victim. By analyzing the scammers' wallet addresses, it can be seen that scammers could steal a significant amount of money in a short time. After analyzing the attackers' techniques, tactics, and procedures, this paper discusses the countermeasures that can be applied to mitigate such a fraudulent activity in the future.