Youtube Channel SaveAFox, previously a channel about like, a fox sanctuary that showed cute footage of the foxes to get more donors, got hacked today.
It is now full of videos claiming to be from SpaceX and Elon Musk’s ugly mug.
Thing is
It’s not the first channel I’ve seen being hacked, nor is it the first to get that exact type of content spammed into it. Linus Tech Tips got hacked some time back (honestly I don’t remember how long ago, but I was already on Lemmy, so it was within the past year and change) and it had that exact type of stuff before LMG took it back.
And there was another random channel that I saw suffer the same fate some months before LTT.
My question is – Why Elon Musk? Why SpaceX/Tesla? Is Musk himself paying people to build zombie farms for him? I wouldn’t put it past him but at the same time he has the funds to not need that kind of tactic – He could astroturf by more “legit-looking” means.
Is it just because people who like Musk are more likely to fall for scams?
Idk, found myself wondering that.
If I were a scammer, I’d want to attract marks who are A) greedy, B) gullible and C) think they are smart.
I’d go for Elon’s fans yeah.
I mean this is how a lot of spam emails worked.
Back then, it was scammers telling marks that Bill Gates can help them get rich off the internet.
This is absolutely it.
No, they don’t want people who hate Elon like another commenter suggested – the idea that a scammer would think that the people who are most likely to fall for their Elon crypto scam are the haters and not the people who are uncontrollably guzzling his cum is just bizarre.
Imagine how bad it’ll get with generative AI only getting better. Think about someone like Linus Tech Tips getting hacked and an AI video getting uploaded of him telling his users to go sign up for a chance to win some $5000 PC “we’re giving 500 away!” and that site which won’t even have to look like anything other than “someMadeUpBrand.com/giveaway/linus”. It’s crazy to even think about how many people would fall for that shit. If the AI is good enough I might fall for it and I’m pretty damn good at catching it (for now).
I don’t have a proper answer but I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’ve seen it happen with channels like GameXplain, A+ Start, and LTT as you said.
It seems like it comes from long-term social engineering where the hackers pretend to be a potential sponsor and eventually send a .zip with a dodgy screen saver file that rips the session cookies from the PC’s browser.
Why they choose Musk? I assume, like you said, people who like him are more likely to fall for scams. I’ve never watched too much of the stream, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a crypto scam in there.
Is it just because people who like Musk are more likely to fall for scams?
Bingo.
If someone is still a fan of Elon in 2024, they’ve self selected themselves as one of the most gullible, easily-scammed people on the planet. Saves scammers a lot of time to target this demographic.
It’s the same reason scam emails don’t spell check or make the grammar more believable.
The people dumb/ignorant enough to not get caught by all the giant waving red flags are people who probably wouldn’t notice an atomic bomb detonating against their eyeball.
They are fishing for crypto so they target people who are likely to hold crypto and be stupid enough to fall for the scam. Using a video of Elon or space x is a perfect way to attract this demographic.
You’re overthinking it. It’s bait for the low EQ and gullible. Call it efficient, some call it natural Darwinism.
Ultimately just messed-upYou’ll find that most Tesla/SpaceX hacked channels promote shitcoins or some form of “You send me 10 Bitcoin and I’ll send you 20 back” scam. This is because Elon himself is promoting or has promoted dubious coins as well (i.e. Dodgecoin). I think Elon stans are just the perfect blend of tech hypers and technologically illiterate people that would most likely be unable to differentiate between “legitimate” Elon promotion and those scams.
It’s just scammers trying to cash out. They know Elon has a large (and gullible) following, many of which see him as as trustworthy and a super good business man, making them easy targets.
It ends up as the usual, a scam investment promising huge returns, but of course they just run away with your money.
It’s fundamentally the same scam they use to hack accounts, posing as a rich sponsor and tricking the youtuber into downloading malware that steals their account.
Spacex doesn’t have an official YouTube channel. You’ve got to go through their website or go to X to watch a stream. Scammers probably see it as easy bait for anyone trying to catch a live rocket launch. A lot of people just assume there’s an official channel.
It was Bill Gates in spam emails when he was still the richest man.
If I had to guess, it’d be that it’s easy rage bait since folks get so worked up over him.
Scammers want to attract people who are gullible and stupid enough that they don’t see they’re getting scammed.
People who are “worked up” about Elon aren’t going to watch a scam video that purports to be by Elon / SpaceX / whatever and go “by golly, I clicked on this link because I get so worked up about Elon, but he’s saying he can make me rich. Maybe I’ve been wrong about him the whole time and I need to check this thing out?”
Lots of Elon fanboys like cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is extremely effective at taking money away from victims with no way to reclaim it, and is basically uninsurable.
It’s not just Musk, though. Scams also use the faces of other rich people. Musk seems to be very popular scamming the tech scene, but every billionaire has had scams associated with them.
