‘Apple’ Live Event With Tim Cook’s Face Turns Out To Be Crypto Scam
Photo 59223496 © Ifeelstock | Dreamstime.com
Scammers were hoping that, ahead of the recent Apple event, their victims would willingly give up Bitcoin instead of buying laptops.
In the hours leading to the Unleashed keynote, which saw all-new MacBook Pro models and AirPods 3 being unveiled, a misleading live-streamed video with “Apple” as its display name went up on YouTube, posing as the official event.
According to 9to5Mac, with the video’s convincing keywords of “REDESIGNED MacBook Pro, NEW AIRPODS, PRO Mac mini” in the title, the scam upload was boosted by YouTube’s search algorithm, drawing tens of thousands of viewers to watch the livestream.
Is this official or some crypto scam in place. @YouTube @Apple @gregjoz @MacRumors @iupdate @SamiFathi_ pic.twitter.com/uLGQsTenUo
— Prafulla (@gsp2k) October 18, 2021
Hopefully, its attempt to persuade users into donating cryptocurrency was enough to trigger alarm bells. Accompanied by a visual of CEO Tim Cook, the video was filled with text reading: “Apple has purchased 100,000 BTC to begin our adventure into Cryptocurrencies. To celebrate, we have devoted 1,000 BTC and 10,000 ETH to be distributed among everybody who participates in the event.”
The Apple impersonator went on to claim that the company would “AirDrop” Ethereum to anyone who would donate Bitcoin to its wallet. Someone’s been a bad apple.
Screenshots shared by social media users suggest that there were other fake streams like this one being hosted concurrently. Thankfully, they’ve all been taken down since.
YouTube has been clamping down on channels that have been dispelling fake news, though its focus seems to be on medical misinformation for now. With crypto scammers on the prowl, it’s hoped that the platform would eventually set some barriers to block them from getting to unwitting individuals, too.
Beware of scam on the Apple live event on YouTube!!! @Apple is not giving crypto currency!!! pic.twitter.com/qVMLJWYX5n
— Nelma Magalhães (@NelMagalhaes) October 18, 2021
Is Apple running a crypto scam?? pic.twitter.com/qkwXRNqaO8
— ASK 🐢 (@adityakothari7) October 18, 2021
Hey @YouTube there's a live scam running on your platform by the channel name Apple which is trying to scam people using crypto currency. It's not the real @Apple. Already 15k watching it live. Please save em. pic.twitter.com/0P9tEpHVtf
— GG NotMVP (@snuman402) October 18, 2021
Searched "Apple Event" and the top and 3rd results were crypto scams, while the actual event was the *4th* result.
— Nordii (@NordiiTW) October 18, 2021
Good job @YouTube#AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/aci7vtH2Mz
[via 9to5Mac and Boing Boing, cover photo 59223496 © Ifeelstock | Dreamstime.com]
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