Youtube Channel SaveAFox, previously a channel about like, a fox sanctuary that showed cute footage of the foxes to get more donors, got hacked today.
It is now full of videos claiming to be from SpaceX and Elon Musk’s ugly mug.
Thing is
It’s not the first channel I’ve seen being hacked, nor is it the first to get that exact type of content spammed into it. Linus Tech Tips got hacked some time back (honestly I don’t remember how long ago, but I was already on Lemmy, so it was within the past year and change) and it had that exact type of stuff before LMG took it back.
And there was another random channel that I saw suffer the same fate some months before LTT.
My question is – Why Elon Musk? Why SpaceX/Tesla? Is Musk himself paying people to build zombie farms for him? I wouldn’t put it past him but at the same time he has the funds to not need that kind of tactic – He could astroturf by more “legit-looking” means.
Is it just because people who like Musk are more likely to fall for scams?
Idk, found myself wondering that.
If I had to guess, it’d be that it’s easy rage bait since folks get so worked up over him.
Scammers want to attract people who are gullible and stupid enough that they don’t see they’re getting scammed.
People who are “worked up” about Elon aren’t going to watch a scam video that purports to be by Elon / SpaceX / whatever and go “by golly, I clicked on this link because I get so worked up about Elon, but he’s saying he can make me rich. Maybe I’ve been wrong about him the whole time and I need to check this thing out?”
I was thinking more along the lines of a troll hacking an account and then trolling more by posting things they know a lot of people would get angry at. People don’t even have to open the video, just visit/be subscribed to the channel. “Some men like to watch the world burn” kind of vibe.
Uh, ok. I do get what you mean, but that sounds so far-fetched that it’s a bit funny.
In any case, the Elon-related scams are pretty much always about crypto, far as I can tell. There’s absolutely a profit motive there, they’re not just doing it to piss people off