PANews reported on August 7th that cybersecurity firm SentinelLABS reported that several YouTube accounts that previously published crypto news and investment tips had been compromised by criminals to promote scam cryptocurrency trading bots. These bots concealed smart contracts designed to steal cryptocurrency. To date, over 256 ETH have been stolen.

Alex Delamottea, senior threat researcher at SentinelLABS, stated in a report that this scam has been "widespread and ongoing" since at least 2024 and is spread through YouTube videos shared on social media that provide tips and smart contract code for deploying cryptocurrency trading bots. After the victim deploys the smart contract, the attacker's wallet is added and hidden by disguising it as a transaction address. Once the user funds the contract, the scammers can steal the funds. The victim must fund the contract for the scam to succeed.