Fraudsters Launch Fake Bitcoin Giveaway Posing as Apple Presentation

On September 7, the day of the iPhone 14 unveiling, unknown actors launched a broadcast of an old interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook in an attempt to steal cryptocurrency by posing as a giveaway. The Verge reports.

The attackers based the stream on старое интервью Кука для CNN от 2018 года.

They also overlaid Bitcoin and Ethereum logos on the video stream and the banner “Breaking News”.

The URL of the Apple LIVE channel page bore no relation to the real company.

Users said the stream appeared on YouTube’s home page. This was likely related to their recent searches on the topic. In addition to the iPhone 14 announcement, Tim Cook was giving an interview at the Vox Media Code conference.

The scammers sought to lure users to click a link leading to a dubious site advertising cryptocurrency fraud.

At one point the stream’s viewership reached 70,000, though the number of actual victims of the scam was not disclosed.

Over several hours, YouTube removed the stream for violating its terms of service.

The Verge uncovered another live stream on a separate channel bearing Apple Inc.’s name. There it showed интервью о биткоине с Маском и главой Block Джеком Дорси from 2021, and the links led to a fake cryptocurrency site. Peak viewership exceeded 10,000. This stream was also removed by YouTube.

Earlier, the attackers hacked the PwC Venezuela Twitter account to promote a fake XRP giveaway on behalf of Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse.

Eight hours after the incident, the administration managed to regain access to the page and delete the phishing links.

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