Issue #11

Eclipse-Themed YouTube Scams

Ahoy there, fellow Netizens! Let’s talk about YouTube scams again this week, as there’s been more scam activity on the video sharing platform.

As I explain in the latest post on Safe Not Scammed, fraudsters have been exploiting Monday’s eclipse to lure viewers into a classic crypto giveaway scam. This scam works by asking victims to send crypto to a specific address and promising to send double the amount back. Of course, anyone who sends money will receive nothing but an expensive lesson in return.

Minus the use of the eclipse, this is a pretty old scam and one that YouTube has seen a lot. You would think, then, that they would be quick to remove these scam videos once they are identified. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case.

I started reporting the scam videos to YouTube as I came across them on Monday and while some were quickly removed, one started streaming on Monday (April 8th) and remained up until at least Tuesday night (April 9th).

I reached out to YouTube on X, formerly Twitter, to bring attention to the video. However, the response from YouTube was not encouraging. Their support representative told me they review content “as fairly as possible” and “know that our enforcement decisions can’t please everyone.”

While I understand there may be some contention about video removal decisions, I don’t think there should be any controversy about removing videos that are obvious scams. Verifying the video really is a scam should not have taken long, either.

This makes it seem like YouTube is struggling to handle scams on its platform. And if it is having a hard time removing such obvious scams, I doubt it can handle the more subtle AI generated fakes and frauds that are sure to come. So, keep a healthy skepticism about everything you see on the platform.

Until next time, stay safe out there!