Fake AI trading bot tutorials trick 224 victims into deploying malicious contracts

According to a report by TRM Labs, scammers used fake YouTube tutorials promoting AI-powered crypto arbitrage bots to deceive 224 victims. The victims were led to deploy and fund malicious smart contracts, resulting in the theft of 274.6 ETH, valued at approximately $517,000 at the time of the transfers. Unlike traditional phishing, this scheme involved victims manually deploying code and authorizing transactions, bypassing standard security warnings. The attackers used AI-generated content to mimic legitimate developers and directed victims to fraudulent compiler websites that replaced the intended code with malicious scripts.