- Cybercriminals are now focusing more on attacking social media influencers and content producers.
- Their accounts have substantial outreach, which criminals can utilize to distribute malware.
- Users frequently get attracted to cryptocurrency scams and fall victim to identity theft.
Online criminals are progressively focusing on social media influencers and other prominent figures in order to spread malware to their audience. malware , draw them into crypto scams, or steal their sensitive information.
A recent report from Bitdefender has indicated that this trend was prevalent in 2024 and continues into 2025 as well.
Threat actors would first approach social media influencers and content creators in different ways, the report notes - they might offer fake sponsorship deals, fake advanced AI-powered video software, or through simple phishing attacks. If the victim falls for the trick and downloads malware, the attackers get ahold of the login credentials for the different platforms they’re using (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and others).

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Millions of individuals face danger
The platforms are then used to target the followers in different ways.
Bitdefender reports that over 9,000 harmful live streams were identified on YouTube specifically.
These streams frequently seem genuine initially, but they are managed by hackers who have relabeled hacked channels," they explained. Relabeling efforts typically mimic prominent figures like Donald Trump, Elon Musk (popular with cryptocurrency scams), Michael Saylor, or Brad Garlinghouse.
The researchers consider this issue significant, as millions of individuals could be affected. For instance, a hacked YouTube channel gained followers totaling over 28 million, and another breached account amassed an astounding number of views exceeding 12 billion altogether.
“The staggering number underscores the global reach that threat actors can access,” Bitdefender added. “If cybercriminals convert just 1% of those views, that equates to a staggering 124 million potential victims exposed to scams, malware, or data theft.”
In these live sessions, criminals would advertise harmful websites that they could utilize to pilfer login details, individuals’ digital currency holdings, or private data.
Content producers are encouraged to enhance their security measures, whereas subscribers ought to approach all online content with skepticism, even posts made by influencers they follow.
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