YouTube channel Linus Tech Tips terminated after it was hacked to show crypto-scam videos

[midian182]

What just happened? Linus Tech Tips, one of the largest and most popular technology YouTube channels on the platform, has been hacked. It was used by the hackers to show pre-recorded 'live-streaming' crypto-scam videos, featuring former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The channel is now showing a message stating it has been shut down for violating YouTube's community guidelines, but it appears Linus' other channels are also being abused.

Linus Sebastian's Linus Tech Tips YouTube channel has been running since 2008 and has amassed 15.8 million subscribers. The Canadian has several channels under the Linus Media Group banner, including TechLinked, but the main one remains the most popular. Sadly for all involved, it's become the latest high-profile channel to be hacked.

Hackers changed the channel's name to LinusTechTipsTemp adding a @temporaryhandle. They also posted two videos of old livestreams featuring Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk, which were part of The B Word conference held by Ark Invest in June last year, uploaded with overlays linking to crypto scams. This is the same trick that has been used on several previous occasions, including the hack on the British Army YouTube channel last year.

YouTube has shuttered the channel for violating its guidelines, but it seems the hackers have now gone after other Linus Media Group accounts. TechLinked has been renamed Tesla and is showing the same Musk livestream. Hackers have also added around 15 (at last count) official Tesla videos in an attempt to make the channel appear more legitimate. It's likely that YouTube will block this account soon enough, too.

We still don't know exactly how the hackers took over, and there has been no official response from Linus or anyone else at the company. (Update: statement below).

Yes I know -_-

— Linus LinusMediaGroup (@linusgsebastian) March 23, 2023

While all the content from the channels has been deleted, Linus previously created several videos showing off the high-end hardware used to store the terabytes of backups the company created over the years. Hopefully, the impacted channels will be restored in time. Nevertheless, the team will no doubt be embarrassed and angry that such an incident was able to occur.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/98047-youtube-channel-linustechtips-terminated-after-hacked-show-crypto.html

 

[Blqckout]

Less than desirable outcome

 

[Blqckout]

Update on your story, they changed the name to tesla, with handle being @teslaonline1
Linus and his media group woke up and changed it with the youtube team to LinusTechTipsTemp, restoring the profile picture.

Shortly after, the channel got terminated as TechQuickie and TechLinked also got hacked
The battle is still ongoing - this is proven information, I was there when it happened, also on the forums posting updates on the situation, ur welcome

 

[VitalyT]

 

[Haaky]

This guy should be banned from the whole internet.
Trying to scam people by selling a backpack for 600 bucks.
Not honoring his warranty
Trying to sell a screwdriver I can buy on Amazon for 6 bucks, and he trying to charge 30
Sell out
Corporate scum bag, period

 

[Theinsanegamer]

So, assuming this is the same scam that has been spreading to YouTubers lately, the hack works by getting someone to download an infected pdf. file onto a device that has 2FA on it, then uses a flaw in how Google does account sharing to give the hackers full control over the account.

Which means someone at Linus' "enterprise" was foolish enough to open a PDF from a phishing account on a phone used to 2FA into the LTT account.

I knew his people were only sudo techies but holy unmitigated failure batman.

 

[yRaz]

This guy should be banned from the whole internet.
Trying to scam people by selling a backpack for 600 bucks.
Not honoring his warranty
Trying to sell a screwdriver I can buy on Amazon for 6 bucks, and he trying to charge 30
Sell out
Corporate scum bag, period

I'm not saying you have to like the guy but literally none of that is true.

About his warranty, he basically stated that warranties are a scam to falsely give customers confidence in a product. He said he wasn't going to put a warranty on it but he does guarantee his products. As far as I'm aware, there have not been any issues in quality control or problems with returned items.

 

[m4a4]

That explains why I had a "Tesla" channel on my account....

I wonder if this is an inside job, or their security unfortunately had a hole in it...

 

[fps4ever]

I'm not saying you have to like the guy but literally none of that is true.

About his warranty, he basically stated that warranties are a scam to falsely give customers confidence in a product. He said he wasn't going to put a warranty on it but he does guarantee his products. As far as I'm aware, there have not been any issues in quality control or problems with returned items.

Linus has a huge following on his main channel and is very good at marketing and merchandising. He is up front about costs on everything he sells and backs his own merchandise. Love or hate him he knows how to run a business. Not honoring his products support to customers is an outright falsehood.

 

[m4a4]

This guy should be banned from the whole internet.
Trying to scam people by selling a backpack for 600 bucks.
Not honoring his warranty
Trying to sell a screwdriver I can buy on Amazon for 6 bucks, and he trying to charge 30
Sell out
Corporate scum bag, period

No. And try looking up the definition of "scam" when you provide receipts next time lol

 

[Blqckout]

This guy should be banned from the whole internet.
Trying to scam people by selling a backpack for 600 bucks.
Not honoring his warranty
Trying to sell a screwdriver I can buy on Amazon for 6 bucks, and he trying to charge 30
Sell out
Corporate scum bag, period

just bc he sellsstuff doesnt mean u gotta buy it, I just like his videos

 

[Haaky]

This is the same guy that tries to build the ultimate PC, using a CPU that cost more than most people make in a year.
Drops and breaks the CPU and laughs about it.
You know what thats called??
Thats called being a *****. All this guy is interested in is making as much money as he can. Everyone of his youtube vids is nothing but click bate.
Has no clue what hes talking about.
You want to watch actually good vids on todays tech, then watch Jay, GN or Paul, and I'm sure there are a few other.
This dude is nothing but a youtube scammer.
Period!!
And now he's prob set all this up for publicity

 

[yRaz]

This is the same guy that tries to build the ultimate PC, using a CPU that cost more than most people make in a year.
Drops and breaks the CPU and laughs about it.
You know what thats called??
Thats called being a *****. All this guy is interested in is making as much money as he can. Everyone of his youtube vids is nothing but click bate.
Has no clue what hes talking about.
You want to watch actually good vids on todays tech, then watch Jay, GN or Paul, and I'm sure there are a few other.
This dude is nothing but a youtube scammer.
Period!!
And now he's prob set all this up for publicity

Man, and I thought I was delusional. Shame, really, I've been trying really hard as of late but I simply can't compete with this.

 

[fps4ever]

This is the same guy that tries to build the ultimate PC, using a CPU that cost more than most people make in a year.
Drops and breaks the CPU and laughs about it.
You know what thats called??
Thats called being a *****. All this guy is interested in is making as much money as he can. Everyone of his youtube vids is nothing but click bate.
Has no clue what hes talking about.
You want to watch actually good vids on todays tech, then watch Jay, GN or Paul, and I'm sure there are a few other.
This dude is nothing but a youtube scammer.
Period!!
And now he's prob set all this up for publicity

This comment is why you can't trust opinions on the Internet. Ignorance is free and lazy but the truth might take a little effort to find.

 

[RudyBob]

Good thing my channel only deals in how to make scrambled eggs

 

[Blqckout]

This is the same guy that tries to build the ultimate PC, using a CPU that cost more than most people make in a year.
Drops and breaks the CPU and laughs about it.
You know what thats called??
Thats called being a *****. All this guy is interested in is making as much money as he can. Everyone of his youtube vids is nothing but click bate.
Has no clue what hes talking about.
You want to watch actually good vids on todays tech, then watch Jay, GN or Paul, and I'm sure there are a few other.
This dude is nothing but a youtube scammer.
Period!!
And now he's prob set all this up for publicity

ok boomer

 

[wiak]

linus statement from floatplane.com

 

[VitalyT]

Good thing my channel only deals in how to make scrambled eggs

We want a signed warranty on those! Otherwise, it could be a scam! LOL.

 

[MaXtor]

This guy should be banned from the whole internet.
Trying to scam people by selling a backpack for 600 bucks.
Not honoring his warranty
Trying to sell a screwdriver I can buy on Amazon for 6 bucks, and he trying to charge 30
Sell out
Corporate scum bag, period

That's nonsense, but prove me wrong, please link me where I can get the same quality screwdriver for $6. Project Farm tested it vs competing screwdrivers, it's a fantastic screwdriver.

His company is Linus MEDIA Group, he produces entertainment. If you don't enjoy watching; don't.

 

[Haaky]

ok boomer

Yea Boomer
Wake up dude and smell the coffee

 

[yRaz]

That's nonsense, but prove me wrong, please link me where I can get the same quality screwdriver for $6. Project Farm tested it vs competing screwdrivers, it's a fantastic screwdriver.

His company is Linus MEDIA Group, he produces entertainment. If you don't enjoy watching; don't.

I like how he ordered more screw drivers than he thought that he needed so he could profitably sell them at $69. I can understand why people don't like Linus's style but I enjoy their content. It's free to watch and there are no ads aside from the sponsored messages which are short, to the point and easily skipable. I've looked into the products made by sponsors and while I'm not in the market for those things the brands look solid. I don't think he shills any product that would hurt his viewers. He got push back from a video sponsored by Raid Shadow Ledgends. There was so much push back from the community that he ended up editing the video without the sponsored message.

 

[Hotlynx16]

May be he needs to do what my company does, sends out fake Phishing emails to test his employees! If you failed to spot them twice you got your internet blocked for a period of time. If you still clicked on one after getting your internet restored YOU WERE FIRED!!

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I like how he ordered more screw drivers than he thought that he needed so he could profitably sell them at $69. I can understand why people don't like Linus's style but I enjoy their content. It's free to watch and there are no ads aside from the sponsored messages which are short, to the point and easily skipable. I've looked into the products made by sponsors and while I'm not in the market for those things the brands look solid. I don't think he shills any product that would hurt his viewers. He got push back from a video sponsored by Raid Shadow Ledgends. There was so much push back from the community that he ended up editing the video without the sponsored message.

I'm not a fan of watching people talk so I avoid videos/feeds. Most of these people have voices that are annoying, but Linus's voice is whiney and just grates on my nerves. I'd rather sit in a room and listen to nails on chalk board. I don't know how people can stand to listen to that sound coming out of his mouth.

 

[Dimitrios]

This guy should be banned from the whole internet.
Trying to scam people by selling a backpack for 600 bucks.
Not honoring his warranty
Trying to sell a screwdriver I can buy on Amazon for 6 bucks, and he trying to charge 30
Sell out
Corporate scum bag, period

I notice most people that become famous too fast don't last that long and some just end up destroying their fame and even going out with a "bang." I bet if he sold muffler bearings or headlight washer fluid some of them will actually buy it.

I know this is a little random but did anyone sadly hear about what happened to that 1990's famous Disney girl Amanda Bynes like 2 days ago?

 

[yRaz]

I'm not a fan of watching people talk so I avoid videos/feeds. Most of these people have voices that are annoying, but Linus's voice is whiney and just grates on my nerves. I'd rather sit in a room and listen to nails on chalk board. I don't know how people can stand to listen to that sound coming out of his mouth.

It sounds like you have more of a problem with that style of content in general, not the individuals. There's nothing wrong with that, either. I love youtube and hate TV, people love TV and hate youtube. Some like both and other neither.