On the evening of October 18, a few hours before the official start of Apple’s Unleashed press conference, scammers launched a series of fake streams on YouTube, during which they invited users to participate in a cryptocurrency airdrop. reports 9to5mac.
Viewers were urged to send to the specified wallet 0.1 BTC to 5 BTC or 3 ETH to 500 ETH, and allegedly receive double the cryptocurrency in return.
The fake stream was run on a channel copying the Apple account down to the logo. In the stream’s title and description, the attackers used phrases "Updated MacBook Pro", "New AirPods", "PRO Mac Mini". Owing to the topic’s popularity, YouTube’s algorithms triggered, and one of the deceptive presentations drew about 30,000 viewers at the peak.
Currently the account has been removed.
During the actual Unleashed presentation, Apple unveiled, among other things, new MacBook Pro models and AirPods 3.
Fraudsters frequently use YouTube to promote fake cryptocurrency airdrops.
In March 2021, a class-action lawsuit over cryptocurrency fraud on YouTube threatened IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson.
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