In recent years, cryptocurrency scams have been growing in popularity due to increased public interest in investing. The explosion in the value of bitcoin means many people are looking for ways to turn a profit, and unsurprisingly, some of those people are hackers. One of the most recent targets used to push a cryptocurrency scam is the late YouTube gamer and Twitch streamer, Reckful.
The massive popularity of video game streaming also means that accounts belonging to notable streamers are primary targets for hackers and cryptocurrency scammers seeking to gain as much exposure as possible for their schemes. Earlier in 2020 Twitch's Just Chatting category was targeted by hackers, which led to a series of instant bans. It's unfortunate that account holders suffer twice due to this - first by being hacked, and again with a swift ban. Deceased YouTube and Twitch content creators such as Reckful are clearly not immune to this wave of hacking.
On April 18th, Reckful's YouTube channel was hacked by a cryptocurrency scam in the guise of a live-stream hosted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The stream was titled "Tesla CEO: Elon Musk will start pump" and featured a picture of Elon Musk along with the Twitter "verified" symbol. Reckful's entire YouTube account was redesigned in the wake of this hack to appear as an official Tesla YouTube channel. Reckful's many videos were removed and replaced with videos that reinforce the scam instead.
Many fans are understandably outraged that Reckful of all people would be the target of such a scam. Members of the /r/LiveStreamFails community on Reddit discussed the hack, saying it was a "very disrespectful thing to do," like "destroying a tombstone and replacing it with a crypto scam." One Redditor was swift enough to archive the YouTube hack so that viewers could see the full extent of the damage. Despite Reckful's death in 2020, his moderators are still active and were quick to repair the damage. A similar scam was used on another popular streamer the same day, causing Fedmyster to be banned from Twitch. In Reckful's case, the hack was only temporary and his YouTube account was restored back to normal within a few hours, so far without any disruption to the channel.
Although Reckful was another victim of this wave of hacks, it's unlikely that he was deliberately targeted. These hacks tend to be carried out by bots that use database leaks in an attempt to compromise as many accounts as possible. It's highly probable that the perpetrator didn't even know who Reckful was. However, that hardly removes the sting many fans feel when the memory of their favorite streamer is disrespected by a money scheme. This trend is likely to continue since even Twitch is prone to data breaches.
Source: Twitter