The recent breach of the Supreme Court’s YouTube Channel highlights a growing trend where cybercriminals are taking advantage of social media accounts belonging to individuals, businesses, and organizations to promote fraudulent cryptocurrencies.
On Friday, September 20, 2024, the official YouTube channel associated with the Indian Supreme Court was purportedly compromised in a cyber attack, redirecting users to fraudulent content promoting XRP XRP $2.20 24h volatility: 1.8% Market cap: $128.81 B Vol. 24h: $3.88 B , a digital asset used to facilitate cross-border payments by Ripple.
According to a local news report, the hackers posted a misleading video titled “Brad Garlinghouse: Ripple Responds To The SEC’s $2 Billion Fine! XRP PRICE PREDICTION”, on the channel immediately after gaining control of the account.
Indian Supreme Court Under Attack
The hacked YouTube channel with millions of followers was recently used to stream proceedings involving a rape case and murder in India. However, after gaining control of the channel, the attackers have removed all traces of the case including other videos previously available on the channel.
As per the reports, the only accessible video on the channel is the one uploaded by the hackers to promote Ripple’s XRP. This has led to speculations that the hackers may be one of the XRP armies looking to inflate the price of the token to cash out.
While the intent behind the back remains at large, the video in question centered around Ripple’s ongoing legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The blockchain payment infrastructure provider has been embroiled in a multi-year court case regarding whether XRP should be classified as an unregistered security.
Meanwhile, at the time of writing, YouTube has taken down the channel, suspending all activities on the account. Despite the suspension, the court is yet to release a public statement regarding the hack.
A Growing Trend
The recent breach of the Supreme Court’s YouTube Channel highlights a growing trend where cybercriminals are taking advantage of social media accounts belonging to individuals, businesses, and organizations to promote fraudulent cryptocurrencies. These scams typically involve deceiving users with offers that entice them to send a specific digital asset in exchange for a larger return.
Just yesterday, cybercriminals compromised the official X account of Decentraland, a metaverse platform, to spread a phishing link masquerading as an airdrop for its native MANA token, aimed at misleading its followers.
The link reportedly led users to a site where they were instructed to claim the airdrop by connecting their cryptocurrency wallets. Unfortunately, once users linked their wallets, their funds were put at risk, making them susceptible to financial losses.
Prior to this incident, on Wednesday, hackers also targeted several high-profile accounts in the crypto space to promote a meme coin known as HACKED.
Victims included Lenovo India, filmmaker Oliver Stone, Yahoo News UK, and soccer star Neymar Jr. The hackers posted tweets endorsing the suspicious coin, stating “INTRODUCING $HACKED ON SOLANA”, and promised to share the token address through each compromised account to “pump it and make profits together”.
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