UNISWAP

DESCRIPTION OF EVENTS

"Uniswap is an Ethereum exchange, built using smart contracts and liquidity pools, as opposed to the order book of a traditional centralized exchange (CEX), such as Binance. With any Ethereum wallet, users can simply connect to the Uniswap application and effortlessly exchange ERC20 tokens without first sending them to the exchange platform account."

"[T]he popular decentralized token swap platform launched its long-anticipated native token called UNI. The announcement was accompanied by news that Uniswap will airdrop 15% of UNI’s total supply to users who had used it before September 1st. Naturally, this free token rush raised the community’s attention rather rapidly."

"However, it appears that scammers were also keeping a close eye. It didn’t take long, and only a day after the UNI launch, unknown fraudsters initiated a fake UNI giveaway on the most widely-used video-sharing platform – YouTube."

"As reported by CryptoPotato earlier, fraudsters created a fake Uniswap YouTube channel. It carried a live stream video of the protocol’s creator Hayden Adams, in which he allegedly offered to double all UNI tokens sent to his address." "In this case, the scammers created a fake Uniswap YouTube channel that supposedly has over 400,000 subscribers. They also launched a live video displaying 40,000 live viewers with the protocol’s creator – Hayden Adams."

"Lastly, the classic scam is completed by offering to double all UNI tokens sent to a specific address. Meaning, that if users send 250 UNI to their address, the fraudsters promise to send back 500 UNI tokens."

"Somewhat expectedly, it was just a blatant scam as the video was a tape, and Adams didn’t promote any giveaways. Although it wasn’t clear if or how many people have fallen for the scam, such events highlight rising issues."

"Although it sounds like easy money, a more in-depth look reveals several issues and points out that it’s a classic scam. The YouTube channel has only two videos – both carrying the same fraudulent live stream, but the Google-owned platform has taken down the first one."

"Additionally, the videos contain the same repeating old interview with Adams, where he says nothing about giving free UNI tokens. Last but not least, victims that fall for this scam and actually send coins to the provided addresses will not receive anything in return."

After Uniswap launched a free airdrop giveaway, scammers decided to create a fake giveaway which allegedly doubled the funds of users who sent them UNI tokens. They did this by hijacking a legitimate YouTube channel with 400,000 subscribers and renaming it as Uniswap. It's unclear how many victims fell for the scam. It appears that the original channel creator eventually got their account restored.

HOW COULD THIS HAVE BEEN PREVENTED?

In general, never give any funds without validating information against the official website of a project. Even in that case, something which sounds too good to be true, and requires a payment or providing sensitive information probably is. Never make a rushed payment under pressure.

Check Our Framework For Safe Secure Exchange Platforms

Uniswap User Loses $20,000 With a Fake Google Play Store App (Mar 1)
Beware: Fake Uniswap (UNI) Token Giveaways Already Roaming the Internet (Mar 5)
Uniswap Launches Its Dedicated UNI Token: ETH Gas Prices Soar Again (Mar 5)
Nitin Randhawa - YouTube (Mar 5)
- YouTube (Mar 5)
How Does Uniswap Work (Jun 5)
Phishing campaign targets YouTube creators with cookie theft malware (Jan 26)
U.S. indicts two men for running a $20M YouTube content ID scam | Hacker News (Mar 5)
YouTubers beware of fraudsters who offer cooperation (Jan 27)
Hackers are phishing YouTube creators to steal their accounts, Google warns (Jan 27)
Hacked YouTube channels to sell or scam cryptocurrencies - CoinCu News (Jan 27)
Crypto scams live-streamed as YouTube channels face phishing attacks - AMBCrypto (Jan 27)
(PSA) A warning to YouTube creators, scammers have worked out an almost fool proof method of phishing your account - Tech News - Linus Tech Tips (Mar 5)
Scammers targeted YouTube creators to takeover accounts, promote crypto investment fraud - CyberScoop (Mar 5)
https://news.trendmicro.com/2021/09/10/scams-targeted-at-youtubers/ (Mar 5)
Keep Your Account Safe From the Latest YouTube Phishing Scam (Mar 5)
How Hackers Hijacked Thousands of High-Profile YouTube Accounts | WIRED (Mar 5)
Hackers Are Phishing YouTube Creators to Steal Their Accounts, Google Warns | PCMag (Mar 5)
Google details extensive phishing campaign targeting YouTubers - The Verge (Mar 5)
https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/phishing-campaign-targets-youtube-creators-with-cookie-stealing-malware-to-hijack-accounts-and-stream-cryptocurrency-scams/ (Mar 5)
Cookie-swiping phishing scam steals YouTube channels from their creators | SC Media (Mar 5)
Don’t Fall for YouTube Email Phishing Scams! - YouTube (Mar 5)
New Sponsorship Scam Targeting YouTubers. Creators Be Aware! - YouTube (Jan 27)
New Phishing Scam Targeting Content Creators - Be Alert - YouTube (Mar 5)
Spam, deceptive practices, & scams policies - YouTube Help (Mar 5)
YouTube Celebrity Scams - GetKidsInternetSafe (Mar 5)
Scam-baiting YouTube channel Tech Support Scams taken offline by tech support scam • The Register (Mar 5)

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