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Late WoW star Reckful's Youtube channel hacked to promote scam

The late World of Warcraft star Reckful's account was recently hacked to promote a cryptocurrency scam, here's what happened.

By Cole Podany |

First Published April 20, 2022, 00:31

Late WoW star Reckful's Youtube channel hacked to promote scam

Hackers defaced the YouTube account of late World of Warcraft YouTuber Byron "Reckful" Bernstein on 18th April 2022.

Scammers changed the header, icon, and other aspects of the account to make it appear like an official Tesla account in order to conduct a cryptocurrency scam. Here's everything we know about the hack and how the internet reacted.

Reckful's account defaced by hackers

Reckful was one of the top World of Warcraft players in the world. (Image: Reckful)

Reckful was a World of Warcraft star, making a name for himself as one of the top players in the world. His skill and personality netted him over a million subscribers on YouTube and a strong following on Twitch before he took his own life in 2020.

Reckful's videos were removed by hackers on 18th April 2022 and replaced with fake Tesla videos.

The hackers then started a YouTube stream called "Tesla CEO: Elon Musk will start pump cryptocurrency," attempting to scam viewers into thinking the stream was hosted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

The late YouTuber's channel was heavily altered during the hack.

Reckful's editors and moderators were quick to repair the damage, putting a stop to it a few hours after the hackers logged in to the account.

“One of the editors here, Reckful’s youtube got hacked, I’m working on restoring it. Don’t click any links,” read Reckful's YouTube description an hour after the hack.

Reckful's account is now back to normal, with the original videos and channel content back in place. At the time of writing, the hackers' identities are still unknown.

Fans' reactions to Reckful's account being hacked

Reckful's fans were shocked at the disrespectful act, with many of them expressing their feelings on the issue online.

"I feel like tech companies aren't doing enough to ensure people's online presence is properly memorialised," said Redditor BladelessTV.
"As a millennial that has known the internet my whole life, this feels like someone just desecrated a grave."

That's all we know right now about hackers logging in to Reckful's YouTube account and the cryptocurrency scam. If you want to stay up to date with this story as it unfolds or take a look at related stories, check out our YouTube section for more.

Featured image courtesy of Reckful.

Check out our video below, where we dive deep into the lore of the Dragon Aspects in World of Warcraft, discussing all the leaders, their history, and some family drama!