The Fake Celebrity Cryptocurrency scam is a fairly new one. While there are other scams where a celebrity’s approval has been faked, this one is specifically where a celebrity deepfake advertises on a live YouTube (or other, but this seems to be currently YouTube-based) event where you scan a QR code that sends you to a genuine looking site that has you send your crypto to a certain address, and in return you’ll get 2x as much. For obvious reasons, the victim never sees their money again.

These channels can show up as “verified” - but they’re not actually the channel of the celebrity in question. They’re actually channels verified for their original purpose that has nothing to do with the celebrity, but have been taken over by malicious means. (One of the most famous examples was Linus Tech Tips.) They can be very much scam-and-run as the original account holder usually gets access back with the help of YouTube. But by then, the damage is done.

How to protect yourself
Common sense. No celebrity is going to send you 2x the crypto that you send them. No, not even that celebrity. Remember that crypto cannot be retrieved, which is why scammers love it so much.

Also, since these are deepfakes, keep an eye out for weird video “glitches”, such as the celebrity not sounding like themselves, or their anatomy not looking quite right - the infamous extra fingers has hit at least one deepfake! - or just something being not quite right. Also check the channel name - does it fit with the celebrity?