Yesterday’s “Glowtime” occasion, throughout which Apple live-streamed its iPhone 16 launch, grew to become a goal for crypto scammers exploiting the hype.
Cybercriminals used deepfake know-how to mimic Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner in faux reside streams, convincing viewers to ship cryptocurrency to fraudulent wallets.
In a single such stream, an AI-generated model of Cook dinner urged viewers to ship Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, or Dogecoin, claiming that Apple would double their deposit. Within the faux video, Cook dinner was saying, “When you full the deposit, the system will robotically course of it and ship again double the quantity of cryptocurrency you deposited.”
The faux livestream attracted vital consideration, with over 355,000 folks watching earlier than YouTube finally took it down. The video was posted by a YouTube account impersonating Apple, nicknamed “Apple US.”
One other comparable rip-off appeared on a faux YouTube account referred to as “Apple’s Reside,” which marketed the “largest crypto giveaway of over $100,000,000.” Like the primary rip-off, it requested viewers to ship cryptocurrency to a particular pockets, promising double the quantity in return. YouTube additionally shut down this video after it was flagged.
On X, a number of customers reported faux movies involving crypto scams, tagging YouTube of their posts. One person wrote, “@TeamYouTube This YouTube channel is hacked and streaming within the title of @Apple and scamming folks to purchase cryptocurrency. 500K persons are watching presently.”
Using synthetic intelligence in crypto scams is on the rise, and, because the digital area expands, so do the strategies utilized by scammers.
Final 12 months, a senior misplaced over $250,000 in cryptocurrency by way of an alleged on-line romance rip-off.
Regardless of such incidents, a report from PeckShield, a blockchain safety firm, confirmed a decline in general cyber theft in 2023. The report revealed that losses from hacks and scams fell to $2.61 billion, a 27.78% lower in comparison with the $3.6 billion misplaced globally in 2022. Nevertheless, the monetary losses from scams stay vital.
In response to the rising menace of on-line fraud, main crypto exchanges, together with Coinbase and Kraken, have shaped the “Tech Towards Scams” alliance. The coalition, launched in Could, goals to fight on-line scams and defend customers within the crypto area.
