Youtube Video Content Creators and Channel Subscribers Cautioned Of Malicious Posers

Fake accounts, posers, and pretenders have been a constant issue online. Online services became indirect victims, especially if the posers act on a certain way that damages the reputation of the online service or hurt someone in real life due to their posts. The latest scandal on Youtube, for example, involves Youtube popular content creators becoming victims of malicious impersonation. The targets are their fans, who get phished due to their misguided trust to the person they were speaking, assuming they were speaking with are the real Youtubers, but the reality were just posers.

Philip DeFranco, James Charles, Jeffree Star, Bhad Bhabie are some of the most impersonated personalities on Youtube. The malicious posers take advantage of Youtube feature that enables private messages to be sent to Youtube channel subscribers. By making the targets believe that the Youtube celebrity hosts contests or freebies, the victims are directed to visit phishing sites in return.

The Youtube team in response is about to implement changes in how the private messaging system works in order to prohibit phishing attacks against Youtube channel subscribers. They have posted an official Twitter response regards to the issue:

Team YouTube‏Verified account @TeamYouTube

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Replying to @PhillyD

Thanks for reporting on this spam issue! We’re in the process of implementing additional measures to prevent impersonation like this. In the meantime, your subs can protect themselves by blocking any account that is spamming them: https://goo.gl/67Vosy

From Youtube’s Terms of Service itself, mere impersonation of a Youtube content creator is prohibited, let alone impersonate with the goal of profiting or gaining benefit out of such activity.

“A user copies a channel’s profile, background, or text, and writes comments to make it look like somebody else’s channel posted the comments. If you feel that yours or another creator’s channel is being impersonated, please visit our reporting tool. We are constantly working to keep YouTube free of spam, scams, and other deceptive practices that attempt to take advantage of the YouTube community. Some users create content which attempts to trick others for their own financial gain. Content that deliberately tries to mislead users for financial gain may be removed, and in some cases, strikes may be issued to the uploader. Be wary of claims that seem too good to be true, as they likely are,” said in Youtube’s online support page.

It is the responsibility of everyone to be safe online, whether it is on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter or other social media platforms. Unless directed to a separate website outside of Youtube, nothing inside the Youtube site can steal user credential and user information.