Ethereum News Today: YouTube fake Ethereum bots steal $900,000 via smart contract scams

Generated by AI AgentCoin World
Thursday, Aug 7, 2025 1:16 pm ET1min read
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Aime RobotAime Summary

- SentinelLABS exposed a $900K Ethereum scam using fake YouTube trading bots with malicious smart contracts to drain user wallets.

- Attackers deploy MEV bots via Remix Solidity Compiler tutorials, leveraging aged accounts and AI-generated videos to build trust.

- Despite AI-generated scam content, human-created videos yielded higher profits, highlighting evolving tactics since early 2024.

- Multiple obfuscated contract variants complicate attribution, while experts warn of Web3 tools combined with social engineering and generative AI.

- Users are urged to verify external code sources and avoid unvetted YouTube tutorials to mitigate crypto wallet risks.

Cybersecurity firm SentinelLABS has uncovered a scam operation involving fake

Ethereum
trading bots promoted on YouTube, which has defrauded victims of over $900,000 [1]. The scheme uses malicious Ethereum-based smart contracts disguised as automated trading bots, particularly Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) bots, to siphon funds directly from users’ wallets [1]. These scams have been active since early 2024, with attackers continuously evolving their methods through new videos and accounts [1].

The scammers leverage YouTube tutorials that guide users through deploying bots using the Remix Solidity Compiler, a widely used web-based tool for smart contract development [1]. Viewers are directed to download code from external links, which, once deployed, are programmed to drain their crypto wallets. To enhance credibility, the attackers use aged YouTube accounts filled with off-topic or seemingly legitimate crypto content, creating an illusion of trust [1].

A significant part of the campaign involves AI-generated videos. Many tutorial clips use synthetic voices and faces with robotic tones, unnatural cadence, and stiff facial movements to create scam content at scale and with lower costs [1]. However, the most profitable video in the campaign, responsible for the $900,000 in losses, appears to have been created by a real person, indicating that human-generated content may still yield higher returns in this context [1].

SentinelLABS also identified multiple variations of the malicious contracts, each employing different obfuscation methods to conceal the scammer’s control over Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) [1]. While some contracts shared a common wallet address, others used distinct destinations, making it difficult to determine whether the operation is the work of a single group or multiple actors [1].

The firm emphasized the growing threat posed by the combination of Web3 tools, social engineering tactics, and generative AI [1]. SentinelLABS advised cryptocurrency users to exercise caution, verify all external code sources, and remain skeptical of trading bots promoted through unvetted YouTube tutorials [1].

Source: [1] Fake Ethereum trading bots on YouTube help scammers steal over $900K (https://cryptoslate.com/fake-ethereum-trading-bots-on-youtube-help-scammers-steal-over-900k/)