A convincing live stream featuring a seemingly-legitimate Donald Trump YouTube channel quickly gained massive traction before the U.S. Presidential debate Thursday, reaching nearly half the number of subscribers as the official Donald Trump YouTube channel before it was taken down. The channel and Trump deepfake urged viewers to donate in cryptocurrency, with promises of substantial rewards in exchange. The video was titled with keywords related to the official Presidential debate between Trump and Biden while sharing a fake promotional website and QR code for donations through Bitcoin, Ethereum, Doge and Tether cryptocurrencies.

Fake Trump Cryptocurrency Promotion Scam Streamed Ahead of Presidential Debate

The timing of the fake live stream coincided with the scheduled debate this week between current U.S. President Joe Biden and former President and challenger Donald J. Trump. Scammers behind the campaign appeared to be taking advantage of actual statements made by Trump supporting cryptocurrency in the past, coupled with a repeated AI-generated video where he sits alongside popular YouTuber Logan Paul to speak about promoting cryptocurrency within the United States if elected. [caption id="attachment_79454" align="alignnone" width="1351"] Screenshot taken from the livestream.[/caption] The fake video appears to stem from an edit of a podcast video where Trump joined the YouTuber to speak on various issues, including the election, U.S. politics, his personal life and his opponent. The edited fake video shared a QR code and website (donaldtrump[.]gives) where viewers could be tricked into making donations. The website incorporates official Trump campaign branding for the 2024 presidential election, sharing instructions for participation in the "unique event," a multiplier to lure visitors with calculations on how much cryptocurrency they would receive in return for their donation, and a "live" feed of ongoing donations made to the shared cryptocurrency addresses. [caption id="attachment_79477" align="alignnone" width="690"] Cryptocurrency addresses involved with the scam[/caption] "During this unique event, you have the opportunity to take a share of 2,000 BTC & 50,000 ETH & 500,000,000 DOGE & 50,000,000 USDT. Have a look at the rules and don't miss out on this. You can only participate once!" the scam website stated. According to details from a WhoIs lookup, the website appears to have been registered on June 27th, the same day as the Presidential debate, using a Russian registrant.

YouTube Channel Connected To Scam Taken Down

The YouTube channel behind this promotion was taken down shortly after a report to YouTube, but the website promoted during the stream still appears to be up and running. The channel was noted to have about 1.38 million subscribers before its takedown, nearly half the subscriber count (2.9 million) for the official Donald J Trump YouTube channel. [caption id="attachment_79462" align="alignnone" width="606"] Email confirmation of Channel takedown[/caption] It is unknown if the live transaction feed featured on the scam website reflects actual real-time transactions. The full extent and the victim count from this cryptocurrency scam is unknown; details of the campaign have been sent to CRIL (Cyble Research and Intelligence Labs) researchers for further investigation. [caption id="attachment_79474" align="alignnone" width="2604"] Screenshot of alleged transactions[/caption] The campaign highlights the threat of Artificial Intelligence content to election-related processes, legitimate campaign donations and impersonation of candidates or well-known figures. In a recent incident, crypto scammers had taken over the YouTube channel of Channel 7 News Australia to use a deepfake Elon Musk to promote dubious crypto investments.

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Guardian latest 24 hour summary: "Three new MRP polls predicted varying degrees of Conservative annihilation, the worst of them projecting a collapse to 53 seats (analogy) and prompting a Daily Telegraph front page headline in a font size normally reserved for mass casualty events in the home counties: 'Tory Wipeout'. The Gambling Commission was revealed to be looking into a second Conservative hopeful, Bristol North West candidate Laura Saunders, over an alleged bet on the timing of the election. Jeremy Hunt admitted he might lose his own seat...

...Laura Saunders' husband turned out to be the Conservatives' director of campaigning, Tony Lee, who is also facing questions from the Gambling Commission and has taken a leave of absence two weeks out from the election. Tory campaign resources are being moved out of constituencies with majorities of around 10,000 because they are no longer viewed as winnable. The Conservatives deleted an unfortunately timed social media post that warned "if you bet on Labour, you can never win" alongside a video of a roulette wheel, that had already been viewed 1.4m times. Promotion started for Boris Johnson's forthcoming book, with a picture of the former prime minister looking like a particularly monstrous horror movie villain, and the tagline: "UNLEASHED". Where do the Tories go from here? The answer appears to be the Hurlingham Club, where they are holding their summer party tonight. Tables cost £12,000." [Previouslyer][Countdown] Politico: Betting scandal engulfs UK election. Metro: What happens if a prime minister loses their seat in a General Election? The National: Polls may be wrong and Tories could win the election, claims Michael Gove Highest-rated comment: Must have changed his dealer, the new blow has addled what's left of his very limited intellect.

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Last week's EU parliamentary elections have resulted in big wins for right (and far-right) parties across the continent, with inflation- and migration-driven campaigns seeing late surges in support from Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy to Geert Wilder's Party of Freedom to the extremist (and Nazi-curious) Alternative for Germany. Most notable was the unprecedented success of Marine Le Pen's hard-right National Rally in France, whose demolition of the ruling centrist coalition was so complete that President Emmanuel Macron has unexpectedly dissolved the legislature and called for snap elections later this month in a high-stakes bid to disrupt the national-populist wave. Not all is grim for the left -- socialist parties held their own in multiple nations, proudly illiberal Viktor Orban's Fidesz fell short of projections against a rising Péter Magyar, and France's two-round system has reliably kept the far-right out of power. Still, this week's results have massive and troubling implications for climate change, Ukraine, and a swath of other critical issues.

The latest: Personal disaster zone Rishi "Bring Back National Service" Sunak couldn't do an afternoon of his own, bailing on D-day commemorations to pre-record a TV interview, and is now campaigning while hiding from the media, public, and his local rival. In Scotland, unpopular referee and malevolent garden gnome Douglas Ross has picked a seat by ejecting the sitting Tory candidate, while in England the Conservative chair has been parachuted into a seat to fight. But it's not all good for the other parties; Hank Hill lookalike Keir Starmer failed to convince in a 1-2-1 debate, while in Wales the (Labour) First Minister loses a confidence vote. Also, Ed Davey continues his bizarre "Mr Blobby incident lifestyle" election campaign, while Farage continues to be a [Previously] [Countdown].