A new email scamwhat is commonly referred to as “phishing”, began to affect YouTube users, with a high potential for deception many make mistakes.
He influencer Tech developer Kevin Breeze was the first to raise this issue on Twitter, but he was by no means the only person who came into contact with this malicious scam attempt.
YouTube, which is owned by Google, got to work and immediately issued his warning to all who use the platform. The email in question is particularly confusing because the sender’s address is “[email protected]”, which makes it look like it’s coming in a legit way from the video streaming giant.
Warning: we have received reports of a phishing attempt listing [email protected] as the sender
be careful and do not download/access any files if you receive this email (see below)
while our teams investigate, try these tips to stay safe from phishing: https://t.co/x9Ysnm9SSm https://t.co/MNQtrB7zbx
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) April 4, 2023
The fake message states that there are changes to YouTube’s monetization policy and “demands” that click on a link and download a document. For those who have experience with phishing emails, after reading this sentence it’s easy to be at least a little suspicious, but there’s a good chance that many do not see.
Downloading this file will compromise the security and privacy of your device. Unfortunately, there’s no word from YouTube that the company is doing anything specific to combat this wave of phishing emails, so the hoax warning is the best thing for now.
At some point, especially when the issue gains popularity, scammers will likely stop using this method.
What can we do to protect ourselves from falling into any of these tactics? One way is to make a do a quick google search and see if it’s something common or known. Even if the email doesn’t look suspicious, it’s worth doing a quick check online.
Another common feature is that These types of emails usually require you to download a file or go to a web page., implying some sort of urgency that usually makes no sense. A legitimate company will rarely ask us to randomly download something or go to a page that looks suspicious.
In other words, if we think something is weird or doesn’t seem rightit is better to make sure and do some research before taking any kind of action. Even if it means waiting several days to see if information appears on the general information pages.