Fake YouTube tutorials using AI-generated content tricked 224 crypto users into deploying malicious smart contracts, resulting in $517k in losses.

Security & Exploits · 2026-09-18

Fake YouTube tutorial videos using AI-generated content have deceived at least 224 cryptocurrency users into deploying malicious smart contracts, resulting in losses exceeding $517,000 according to TRM Labs. The fraudulent videos claimed to demonstrate how to create crypto arbitrage bots using Claude from Anthropic, with scammers leveraging AI-generated YouTube hosting to distribute the deceptive content. Once deployed, the smart contracts secretly drained funds from affected users' wallets.

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