Australia’s popular news channel 7News has seen its YouTube channel hacked to broadcast an AI-generated cryptocurrency scam featuring Elon Musk.
The breach, which occurred on Thursday, attracted a significant audience, with around 60,000 and 45,000 viewers watching the two live streams respectively before they were taken down and later re-uploaded.
The fraudulent live stream showcased an artificial intelligence representation of Tesla’s owner and CEO, Elon Musk, endorsing a cryptocurrency scam while standing in front of a Tesla car.
Subsequently, two additional streams were uploaded, featuring what appeared to be a Tesla Cybertruck launch event set to take place in 2023.
Following the hack, Seven’s primary YouTube channel has been taken down, and attempts to access it result in broken hyperlinks with an unavailability message.
Additionally, the 7News YouTube channel, which was temporarily rebranded as a Tesla account during the attack, has also been removed.
A spokesperson for Seven confirmed that the company is aware of the situation and is actively collaborating with YouTube to address the issue promptly.
“Seven is investigating and working with YouTube to resolve the situation as soon as possible.”
@elonmusk Live cryptoScam using your image on YouTube now.
Channel says" 7NEWS Australia "
It appears as Tesla channel after clicking on the video when it starts.
Notified YouTube but no "Scam" category to report in drop menu.
Good luck fixing this and getting it shut down. pic.twitter.com/M6pG47xS2M
— Greg Watts (@MeggaWatti_) June 27, 2024
The scam operated by enticing viewers to scan a Tesla-branded QR code displayed on the screen and deposit money into the scheme, promising them the opportunity to “double their crypto assets.”
The
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