Carry Minati’s YouTube channel hacked as part of bitcoin scam reflects why Steve Wozniak is suing the platform

• Top Indian YouTuber Carry Minati’s secondary channel, CarryisLive, was hacked earlier today morning as part of a bitcoin scam.
  
• Two videos called ‘Ethereum Earning Call’ and ‘CHARITY STREAM: HELP ASSAM & BIHAR’ were reportedly live-streamed from the channel asking users to donate bitcoin.
  
• The videos have since been removed.

Less than two weeks after Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and other verified Twitter accounts were hacked as a result of a bitcoin-giveway scam, Indian YouTuber Carry Minati’s account was the victim of a bitcoin scam as well.

The news broke just a day after Apple co-founder Steven Wozniak filed a lawsuit against YouTube for having an algorithm that allows hackers to easily whip up custom software. According to Wozniak, it allows scammers to use images and videos of him to defraud people.

Scammers are increasingly using the face and accounts of well-renowned personalities on social networking platforms to scam people out of bitcoin.

Carry Minati hacked live-stream asks for bitcoin
Carry Minati — real name Ajey Nagar — usually uses his second channel, CharryisLive, to post gaming videos. But around 3:00 am last night, two videos were streamed asking for Bitcoin and Ethereum — two of the largest cryptocurrency platforms as per market capitalisation.


The hack comes after Carry Minati led an online charity drive to help people in flood-affected states raising ₹10.31 lakh for the cause. The videos, called ‘Ethereum Earning Call’ and ‘CHARITY STREAM: HELP ASSAM & BIHAR” have since been removed from the account.

There are currently no estimates on how widespread the scam was and how much money was lost as a part of the fraud.

Bitcoin scams are becoming more common
Whale Alert estimates that scammers were able to rope in around $24 million in bitcoin during the first six months of 2020. When it comes to YouTube, the team argues that as a streaming platform it’s not liable for any of the content — including scams — that are put up by third-parties as under the Communications Decency Act.

According to Wozniak, it's not as simple as that. He believes that not only does YouTube knowingly allow bitcoin scams to go for months but it also pockets the profit by prompting such third-party content by selling targeted advertising. “If YouTube had acted quickly to stop this to a reasonable extent, we would not be here now,” said Wozniak.

The case has been filed by Wozniak and 17 other victims against YouTube with the intension of getting the platform to take down such content.

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