🌎 Cryptocurrency Scammers Hijack Indian Influencer Ranveer Allahbadia’s Channels

Cryptocurrency Scammers Hijack Indian Influencer Ranveer Allahbadia’s YouTube Channels

Cryptocurrency scammers took control of Indian YouTuber and influencer Ranveer Allahbadia’s channels to promote a fraud that promised up to 200% returns on crypto investments.

Hackers Target Popular Indian Influencer

On Sept. 25, Allahbadia, an Indian content creator, entrepreneur, and social media influencer, became the latest victim of crypto scammers. Hackers hijacked and rebranded several of his YouTube channels to livestream an AI-altered video of Elon Musk urging viewers to invest in a ‘double your crypto’ scam.

Rebranding and Deception

Allahbadia’s first channel, BeerBiceps, boasts over 7.8 million subscribers. His personal channel, Ranveer Allahbadia, has more than 9.4 million followers, and a third channel featuring podcast clips has an audience of 1.2 million. All these channels were hacked and rebranded to mimic Tesla, Elon Musk’s renowned automotive and clean energy company.

The hackers replaced the channels’ logos and handles and deleted all previous content to appear as official Tesla platforms. Their goal was to deceive viewers with fake cryptocurrency giveaways and fraudulent live streams featuring Musk’s likeness.

Common Tactics of Crypto Scammers

Crypto scammers often impersonate Musk and his companies, like SpaceX, to defraud unsuspecting crypto enthusiasts. In this instance, the thumbnail also featured United States Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump, possibly to capitalize on the hype around the 2024 elections, where cryptocurrencies have become a major topic.

At press time, the videos had been taken down. However, reports from several viewers show that one of the streams had over 149,000 viewers at one point.

Scam Mechanics

The live streams featured a QR code which, when scanned, redirected users to a fake website branded as Tesla, offering a $100 million giveaway. Users encountered an automated chatbot that described the dubious giveaway as an official event backed by Musk and Trump to “popularize cryptocurrency.”

The site displayed wallet addresses for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Dogecoin, promising to return double the amount of the respective cryptocurrency sent to these wallets. To make the scam appear legitimate, a fake transaction history was also included, automatically updating to show fake transactions.

Previous Instances

A similar website was promoted through fake channels during Apple’s “Glowtime” event on Sept. 9. Bad actors used these fraudulent channels to mimic the official event, impersonating Apple and CEO Tim Cook.

At press time, the number of people affected by the scam remains unclear. The attack is particularly concerning due to the prominence of Allahbadia’s channels and the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies in India.

As of now, Allahbadia has not yet made an official statement regarding the incident.

This incident marked the second attack on a prominent Indian YouTube channel, coming less than a week after the Supreme Court of India’s official YouTube channel was used to advertise phishing links and a scam featuring Ripple’s executives and the XRP token.