Author Topic: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!  (Read 10461 times)

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Online EEVblogTopic starter

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WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« on: May 26, 2017, 02:38:34 am »
Youtube content creators, beware of this nasty and clever phishing scam that tries to get your Youtube login name and password using a fake content ID claim on your video.

Note: I was going to only upload polished on-topic numbered content to EEVblog from now on, but I figured this is important enough that it needs to be shared with as many people as possible. So my 2nd channel didn't cut it.

 

Offline Bud

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2017, 03:16:58 am »
You could check in the browser which Certificate Authority issued the https certificate to them and report to that CA that their certificate is used by their client for illegal activities.
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Online edpalmer42

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2017, 03:41:54 am »
WMG = Warner Music Group

This is doubly sneaky because if there was any music playing in the background - even a radio, WMG might be the owner and would kick up a fuss.  Vbloggers have been caught in that trap.  Makes the email seem even more legitimate.

Ed
 

Offline mdszy

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2017, 03:42:38 am »
Regarding the bad spelling/grammar/caps: The reason scammers do this is because it weeds out people who are too smart to fall for the scams. If you catch the spelling/grammar, odds are you won't get scammed. If you fail to catch it, you're more likely to be someone who'll fall for the scam.
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Offline P90

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2017, 03:56:32 am »
Regarding the bad spelling/grammar/caps: The reason scammers do this is because it weeds out people who are too smart to fall for the scams. If you catch the spelling/grammar, odds are you won't get scammed. If you fail to catch it, you're more likely to be someone who'll fall for the scam.

that's why most Americans get scammed...  lol
 
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Offline mdszy

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2017, 04:00:37 am »
Regarding the bad spelling/grammar/caps: The reason scammers do this is because it weeds out people who are too smart to fall for the scams. If you catch the spelling/grammar, odds are you won't get scammed. If you fail to catch it, you're more likely to be someone who'll fall for the scam.

that's why most Americans get scammed...  lol

Hilarious and original.
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Offline Electro Detective

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2017, 04:02:00 am »
Regarding the bad spelling/grammar/caps: The reason scammers do this is because it weeds out people who are too smart to fall for the scams. If you catch the spelling/grammar, odds are you won't get scammed. If you fail to catch it, you're more likely to be someone who'll fall for the scam.

that's why most Americans get scammed...  lol

The 'one born  every minute' thing must be running rampant there.  :scared:  :horse:  :palm:

Scammers deserve their own island resort  8)
peace and quiet..no internet   ::)
and a one way ticket   >:D
 

Offline P90

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2017, 04:05:19 am »
Regarding the bad spelling/grammar/caps: The reason scammers do this is because it weeds out people who are too smart to fall for the scams. If you catch the spelling/grammar, odds are you won't get scammed. If you fail to catch it, you're more likely to be someone who'll fall for the scam.

that's why most Americans get scammed...  lol

The 'one born  every minute' thing must be running rampant there.  :scared:  :horse:  :palm:

Scammers deserve their own island resort  8)
peace and quiet..no internet   ::)
and a one way ticket   >:D

Scammers deserve public hangings... No pity for those scumbags...
 

Offline Terrius

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2017, 04:46:29 am »
Youtube content creators, beware of this nasty and clever phishing scam that tries to get your Youtube login name and password using a fake content ID claim on your video.

Note: I was going to only upload polished on-topic numbered content to EEVblog from now on, but I figured this is important enough that it needs to be shared with as many people as possible. So my 2nd channel didn't cut it.




Thanks for posting this Dave!

I never trust dubious e-mails, but there are certainly a lot of people that would see the familiar YouTube fonts and appearance and just blindly click, especially if they were a bit panicked due to the notice. Going forward I will certainly take your advice if I ever get a YouTube e-mail and go directly to the source rather than trust any embedded links.

Offline Fungus

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #9 on: May 26, 2017, 07:08:50 am »
'Muted' means they disable the sound on a video.

(because you put copyrighted music on it or something)

 

Offline cdev

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #10 on: May 26, 2017, 03:14:56 pm »

"secureserver.net" is GoDaddy, so they do handle email for a lot of people. Also, the Youtube address they sent it to is likely the "address of record" they are supposed to use?

By and of themselves, if secureserver net was in the headers (and not the return address) that wouldn't raise suspicion for me. However, the other issues you brought up would.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2017, 03:18:20 pm by cdev »
"What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away."
 

Offline Richard Crowley

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #11 on: May 26, 2017, 04:30:46 pm »
'Muted' means they disable the sound on a video.
(because you put copyrighted music on it or something)
The issue was not the meaning of "muted".
The issue was that it is not the normal verb used by official communication from YouTube.
i.e. another clue that the message is not genuine.
 

Offline RGB255_0_0

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #12 on: May 26, 2017, 05:06:54 pm »
'Muted' means they disable the sound on a video.
(because you put copyrighted music on it or something)
The issue was not the meaning of "muted".
The issue was that it is not the normal verb used by official communication from YouTube.
i.e. another clue that the message is not genuine.
They also tell you where they found the copyright material in the video. I heard this from a friend...
Your toaster just set fire to an African child over TCP.
 

Offline jnissen

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #13 on: May 26, 2017, 06:55:54 pm »
Yeah recently had an email from Netflix reporting my payment didn't go through. Same thing...

I didn't follow their link but instead went into my payment system and saw the payment went through no problem. Under closer examination the link was to some nonsense URL. I hate scammers.
 

Offline mikerj

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #14 on: May 26, 2017, 08:33:46 pm »
Regarding the bad spelling/grammar/caps: The reason scammers do this is because it weeds out people who are too smart to fall for the scams. If you catch the spelling/grammar, odds are you won't get scammed. If you fail to catch it, you're more likely to be someone who'll fall for the scam.

That makes no sense.  If smart people realise it's a scam before they get to the point of entering passwords, what does weeding them out with bad spelling actually achieve?

IMO the reason scammers do this is simply because English is rarely their first language.
 
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Offline Hensingler

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #15 on: May 26, 2017, 10:11:52 pm »
How deliciously ironic it would be to find your Youtube account liking and commenting on Batteroo videos.
 

Offline Richard Crowley

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #16 on: May 26, 2017, 10:38:34 pm »
By and of themselves, if secureserver net was in the headers (and not the return address) that wouldn't raise suspicion for me.
It would most definitely raise suspicion for me.  If a mega-website like YouTube isn't sending email from youtube.com, they will have a tough time convincing me the email is genuine. Same with ANY of the URLs linked in the email.  If they don't go to youtube.com/whatever then I'm not clicking it.
 

Offline Richard Crowley

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #17 on: May 26, 2017, 10:40:52 pm »
That makes no sense.  If smart people realise it's a scam before they get to the point of entering passwords, what does weeding them out with bad spelling actually achieve?
It saves their bandwidth for the truly gullible.
Quote
IMO the reason scammers do this is simply because English is rarely their first language.
I have considered more than once how much worse things will be when they start getting a clue and using proper grammar and spelling.
 
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Offline P90

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #18 on: May 27, 2017, 12:55:05 am »
Yeah recently had an email from Netflix reporting my payment didn't go through. Same thing...

I didn't follow their link but instead went into my payment system and saw the payment went through no problem. Under closer examination the link was to some nonsense URL. I hate scammers.


I've got several similar scam emails recently claiming to be from amazon, saying my order has been canceled, with a link that directs you to some website other than amazon.  :(
  It's a scammers world out there... BE CAREFUL!
 

Offline Red Squirrel

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #19 on: May 27, 2017, 02:21:04 am »
I had a really interesting Paypal one a while back.  My site has a donate button and every now and then I actually do get a donation.   I got a real donation, and then not that long after I got an email that looked like it came from Paypal, it was something along the lines

"Hi this is customer support and [person who donated] asked if they could get a refund.  Could you please do so by going to your account?" 

There was no links or anything, and the person was actually the person that donated for real.   What made this seem fishy is that I doubt a refund request would involve someone from  Paypal actually writing a personal email to you. You'd probably get an automated email or something.   I logged in to my Paypal account to see if there was any kind of notice that would pop up and also emailed the person that donated asking if they did ask for a refund and I never got a response back.  Ended up forwarding it to Paypal asking about it and they said it is a scam.  Really not sure what the point of that scam is though, like if I issued a refund, the original person would just get it back, not the scammer.    Unless the person that donated was actually the scammer and there was some kind of trick they can do?  Like maybe it refunds more money or something?
 

Offline P90

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #20 on: May 27, 2017, 02:35:02 am »
I had a really interesting Paypal one a while back.  My site has a donate button and every now and then I actually do get a donation.   I got a real donation, and then not that long after I got an email that looked like it came from Paypal, it was something along the lines

"Hi this is customer support and [person who donated] asked if they could get a refund.  Could you please do so by going to your account?" 

There was no links or anything, and the person was actually the person that donated for real.   What made this seem fishy is that I doubt a refund request would involve someone from  Paypal actually writing a personal email to you. You'd probably get an automated email or something.   I logged in to my Paypal account to see if there was any kind of notice that would pop up and also emailed the person that donated asking if they did ask for a refund and I never got a response back.  Ended up forwarding it to Paypal asking about it and they said it is a scam.  Really not sure what the point of that scam is though, like if I issued a refund, the original person would just get it back, not the scammer.    Unless the person that donated was actually the scammer and there was some kind of trick they can do?  Like maybe it refunds more money or something?

strange... usually there is a fake link in the scam email...
 

Offline mdszy

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #21 on: May 27, 2017, 03:00:52 am »
Regarding the bad spelling/grammar/caps: The reason scammers do this is because it weeds out people who are too smart to fall for the scams. If you catch the spelling/grammar, odds are you won't get scammed. If you fail to catch it, you're more likely to be someone who'll fall for the scam.

That makes no sense.  If smart people realise it's a scam before they get to the point of entering passwords, what does weeding them out with bad spelling actually achieve?

IMO the reason scammers do this is simply because English is rarely their first language.

It saves them bandwidth and time. They want to spend as little money as possible to get the people that will DEFINITELY fall for these things.
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Offline Fungus

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #22 on: May 27, 2017, 08:25:31 am »
"secureserver.net" is GoDaddy, so they do handle email for a lot of people

Sure, but nobody puts it as their email address.
 

Offline Fungus

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #23 on: May 27, 2017, 08:33:45 am »
I had a really interesting Paypal one a while back.  My site has a donate button and every now and then I actually do get a donation.   I got a real donation, and then not that long after I got an email that looked like it came from Paypal, it was something along the lines

"Hi this is customer support and [person who donated] asked if they could get a refund.  Could you please do so by going to your account?" 

There was no links or anything

That's got to be your email reader not showing the full singing and dancing email.

Maybe there was javascript in the email or something like that.

 

Offline cdev

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #24 on: May 29, 2017, 05:05:15 am »
Its in their headers..
"What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away."
 

Offline rs20

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Re: WARNING! - Youtube Content ID Phishing SCAM!
« Reply #25 on: May 29, 2017, 06:53:32 am »
Just a suggestion, it would have been nice to suggest using two-factor authentication as well. Because with my two-factor authentication, even if I gave someone my password, theoretically they couldn't log in. At the very least, seems like a sound second level of defense against those late night link clicks.
 


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