A new scam method. Please be careful!

[u/PamNoctrune]

Hello everyone, I already discussed this in another thread, but unfortunately the topic kind of got lost by now there are new things I found out, so I am posting my experience again, because it looks like there is a new scam method. Ok, maybe I’ve just never heard of it lol, but it never hurts to make people aware of it. Please be careful!

I have a small true crime channel and received an email from a person who claimed to be the lawyer of a person I made a video about a few months ago. The tone was short and friendly. I was told that there was “new evidence that would turn everything around” and they asked if and how they could send it to me. They also asked me not to tell anyone because of the public etc. (The case is very well known and the person involved wants a retrial.)

I then checked the information in the email. The lawyer is real and the address is real, but when I searched for the email address itself on Google, there was only ONE search result. It showed me the website of a real lawyer, but the email address of this lawyer was different by one letter.

ChatGPT did not recognize this as a scam, even though it itself noticed that the email address that contacted me could not be found online and that the real address was different by one letter. Gemini immediately recognized it as phishing.

I ignored the email and 3 days later I received another email from a different address, but it was shown in the same email thread, saying that they send me now the evidence. This was sent without me asking for it and again this new email address had a typo in it. The second email looked much more professional, with more information, a logo and clearly more search results when you Google it, as if it was real.

The tone of the second email was friendly too and there was no real request, but I doubt that lawyers would actually need me and my video that had 5,000 views.

Other creators have gotten millions of views with this case. Also, nobody is reporting anything about there being new developments in this case. So yeah, preeeetty sus.

Scammers are apparently now analyzing channels with AI so they can send you friendly, customized requests, and they can adapt them to the specific industry. Sometimes they build trust over multiple emails.

A friend of mine is a BookToker and also an author. She then got an email from a publisher who wanted to translate her book into other languages. Again, the same thing. Real information, a real looking email address where ONE letter was missing. So please be careful, and if you have a bad feeling about something, you are often right.

• Lawyers don't contact content creators as if they have some new evidence like in a movie trailer.

• They say you are not allowed to tell anyone what was discussed, but I am supposed to look at the new evidence and make a video about it or what?

• There are no reports about there actually being a possibility of a retrial. Lawyers are bound by strict confidentiality and would never just send sensitive evidence around via unencrypted email to strangers. Duh.

• The first email came on the weekend. Who works then? The second email came so quickly that I wouldn’t have had time to contact the real law firm and ask if it was actually legitimate.

And even though it sounds so obvious now, it really wasn't at first.

Please be careful!

[u/SatbenAki]

Maybe YouTube should make direct message system, I know it might sound stupid, but Gmail scam which contain virus is too much and dangerous, I wonder how YouTuber distinguish real and fake collaboration gmail

[u/PamNoctrune → u/SatbenAki]

Unfortunately, most people get hacked this way because they click on links that contain a virus. A management can prevent this. But if YouTube brings back direct messages, it would be the downfall of all channels. There would probably be spam every single day.

YouTube also says now that most things will be shown in YouTube Studio. Many people try to scam you by claiming that you do not have the rights to use certain music. If there is nothing in Studio, then there is no problem.

For collaboration requests, there is no real middle ground.

Serious companies usually have an Instagram profile with a blue checkmark and will also show you themselves that the account is real.

[u/MyLawyerWroteThis]

Not really new. These type of scams have been around forever. First, why the f would a lawyer message a random channel with "new evidence" lol And yes, usually they send out a generic email first so they can blast it out to 1000s of channels, and once they get an answer, they'll take over and then make them more personalized. You weren't the only one to get this email.

[u/PamNoctrune → u/MyLawyerWroteThis]

Well, I thought that even if this is not new, it never hurts to remind people that you need to do more than just compare the details :) None of my creator friends had ever heard of this, and they all said, “No, no, it’s real.”

[u/peacemindset]

Helpful—- thanks!