YouTube removes this fake Apple live stream for being a crypto scam – Times of India

An anonymous YouTube user was recently live streaming an old interview of Apple CEO Tim Cook to attract attention to a cryptocurrency scam. Google’s video-sharing platform has now removed the live streams of the fake video for violating YouTube’s terms of service. Moreover, the video also had several viewers tuned in (as spotted by The Verge) while it was being live-streamed. The video was also reportedly recommended on users’ YouTube homepage while its viewing count reached almost 70,000.
YouTube crypto scam: How to recognise one
Most crypto scams on YouTube have the same pattern and design and can be easily recognisable if users are aware. In this case, the fake live stream had a string of Apple keywords in both the title and description. However, on opening it, users found several strange messages that were linking to a suspicious-looking crypto site.

This live stream also had other signs that even indicated the video was fake. For example, the video reportedly had a weird title — “Apple Event Live. Ceo of Apple Tim Cook: Apple & Metaverse in 2022.”– and it contained an old interview with Tim Cook that was conducted by CNN in 2018.
Moreover, the streamer even added the Bitcoin and Ethereum logos to the video stream and hid the CNN Money logo with the text “Apple Crypto Event 2022.” The imposter even added bold texts which read — “URGENT NEWS” — at the bottom.
Furthermore, when users clicked on the channel’s page (which claimed to be “Apple LIVE”), the URL didn’t land them anywhere near an Apple website. This might suggest that the channel initially had a different purpose but was reportedly hijacked by cyber attackers to host the fake stream.
The timing of the fake live stream was apt to dupe YouTube users
The fake YouTube live stream wasn’t from Apple, however, it took place while the Cupertino giant was under a major spotlight worldwide. Apple streamed its iPhone 14 announcement event hours before the fake YouTube video started streaming. This misleading stream tried to trick users who were aware of Apple’s big day but didn’t know what the event was really about.

Apart from this, YouTube has taken down another live stream on a different channel that claimed itself to be Apple Inc. This fake live stream appeared to be an event featuring Tim Cook and Tesla CEO Elon Musk discussing Apple and the metaverse. However, it was nothing more than an old interview with Musk and Block leader Jack Dorsey where they discussed Bitcoin. Even this video reached stream numbers above 10,000 and was also linked to a suspicious crypto site in the chat.