Guwahati: In a recent cyberattack, popular comedian Tanmay Bhat’s official YouTube channel fell victim to hacking.
With a subscriber base of over 4.4 million, the channel was compromised and renamed “Tesla Corp” by the hackers.
To exacerbate the situation, all videos listed on Tanmay Bhat’s channel were deleted, leaving the comedian shocked and seeking urgent assistance.
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Tanmay took to Twitter to share the distressing news, revealing that both his YouTube and Gmail accounts had been hacked, with even the two-factor authentication being bypassed.
He reached out to Google and YouTube for immediate help, tweeting, “Hi guys – my YouTube/Gmail account has been hacked. 2FA bypassed. I need urgent help. Please DM!”
Seeking prompt action, Bhat also disclosed that the hackers had initiated a livestream on his YouTube channel, which was swiftly set to private. Urging YouTube to intervene, he tweeted, “@TeamYouTube, my channel is hacked and a live stream has begun. Please help!”
Shockingly, Bhat’s account wasn’t the only one compromised.
Several other prominent YouTubers, including stand-up comedian Aishwarya Mohanraj and YouTuber Abdu Rozik, also suffered similar hacking incidents.
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In all instances, the hackers renamed the channels to “Tesla” and replaced the display pictures with Tesla’s logo.
The cover photos were switched to images of Tesla cars.
Moreover, the hackers conducted live streams on these compromised YouTube accounts, using titles like “Tesla Unveils the All-New Model S Plaid 2024 Today! Live Coverage with Elon Musk!”
Currently, the affected channels remain unrecovered. While some accounts had their videos completely deleted, Bhat’s channel still retains its 473 videos, albeit set to private.