YouTube has issued a warning after creators on the platform became victimized by a scam. Specifically, as The Standard reports, this YouTube scam is a phishing email scam. It steals personal details, downloads harmful software, and bans your account.
Per vidlIQ, the email comes from no-reply@youtube.com, and invites users to click on a link to a private video from YouTube Creators. Purportedly, the video tells you to check to description. The description talks of a special code and “policy link.”
If the user clicks on the video’s description, they will be directed to a fake version of Docusign that asks for their e-signature.
Finally, users are taken to a blurry page that asks for code input. Your computer will then try to download a virus in the form of an .exe file.
According to vidIQ on X, one creator almost lost their 500k-sub channel after falling for the scam. Another X user claimed they lost their channel with 100k subscribers.
Other X users, however, were a little more skeptical.
“Who is actually falling for this?” one user asked. “SO obvious.”
“They f***ing spelled creators wrong,” another added.
While a third shared: “The thing that tipped me off to it being a scam before anything was they sent it to my business email account; which doesn’t have a YouTube channel tied to that email so I checked my channel email and saw no email from YouTube…”
These days, scams are getting more and more convincing. It’s worth bearing in mind that if a YouTuber loses their account, they also lose their livelihood. So, we advise creators to stay as vigilant as possible.
