Multiple Filipino artists had their YouTube channels hacked, with the hackers streaming a deepfake video of XRP co-founder Brad Garlinghouse predicting XRP’s price to rise to $4. Obviously, the video was doctored to get unsuspecting users to follow instructions and have their funds drained.
One of the biggest accounts from the series of hacks belonged to Ben&Ben, a pop band comprising nine members, boasting 3.02 million followers. A band member took to Ben&Ben’s official Facebook account to warn its fans, “Hello. Our YouTube channel has been hacked. Our team is working on fixing things ASAP. We’ll keep you updated, Liwanag.”
They followed up a few hours later to let their fans know that “a significant part” of their YouTube channel was recovered, minus the livestream playing on their homepage. “As of this moment, the home page is still livestreaming content by the hijacking party. Nonetheless, we are doing our best to resolve this immediately. Thank you for your patience and support, Liwanag.”
Other artists affected by the attack include the boyband SB19 and singer Rico Blanco. SB19 also took to Facebook to notify its fans about the hack, “We regret to inform you that SB19’s official YouTube account was recently compromised.” It added that the account was regained and that the incident “is now under control.”
Neither Rico Blanco nor his team have made official statements about the hack. However, a Reddit post on the r/Phillipines subreddit stated that Blanco’s channel, with 700,000 subscribers, was also hacked. “This appears in Ben&Ben’s YT page. Similar hacking was reported in YT accounts of Rico Blanco and SB19. Are there others?”
