Crypto scammers hijack Dota 2 YouTube account to promote Solana meme coin

Crypto scammer hijacked the official YouTube accounts for the popular video game franchise Dota 2 on Wednesday to promote a Solana-based meme coin and orchestrate a rug pull.

According to several user reports on platforms like X and Reddit, the breach was first noticed when the channel began livestreaming a video titled “Dota 2 Launch Official Meme Coin | Hurry Up,” directing viewers to a token called dota2coin on the Pump.fun platform.

Brad Lynch

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Looks like Valve’s official Dota 2 YouTube channel was hacked by crypto scammers

lmao

3:31 am · 16 Oct 2025

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The livestream, which has since been taken down, featured promotional links that redirected users to the meme coin’s page, while the token’s listing itself bizarrely included a backlink to the official Dota 2 YouTube channel, likely in an effort to build perceived legitimacy.

On-chain data suggests the token was created just hours before the hack, and community members were quick to flag it as suspicious

Less than 3% of the bonding curve had been completed before it started crashing, with one wallet holding more than 98% of the total supply, a setup characteristic of many rug pull schemes.

Fortunately, the token couldn’t gain serious traction, unlike other scams that have managed to rake in significantly higher numbers before collapsing

Dota2coin’s market cap briefly surpassed $5,000, but quickly plunged by more than 20% after the deception was exposed by eagle-eyed community members.

While Valve, the publisher behind Dota 2, has yet to release a public statement, users on Reddit’s r/DotA2 forum documented the entire incident in real time, sharing screenshots of the livestream and warning others not to interact with the token or any associated links.

Shortly after the Dota 2 incident, users noticed that the official YouTube account of PGL, a Romanian esports organiser known for hosting Dota 2 tournaments, had also been compromised.

PGL’s account was seen broadcasting a fake Bitcoin giveaway livestream, impersonating Strategy executive Michael Saylor. At one point, the stream had amassed over 2,000 live viewers.

YouTube remains a hunting ground for scammers

Today’s incident can be considered a blip in a much wider and ongoing trend of YouTube account hijackings tied to fraudulent crypto promotions.

Bad actors have repeatedly hijacked verified channels, often rebranding them to resemble legitimate crypto companies or personalities, and running fake giveaways or meme coin promotions.

Some of the most prominent targets have included Ripple, whose executives have been repeatedly impersonated in deepfake videos pushing XRP scams, as well as well-known tech figures like Apple’s Tim Cook, Steve Wozniak, and even Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Scammers use AI-generated voiceovers and manipulated footage to make the promotions appear credible, sometimes raking in thousands—or even millions—before being taken down.

But the threat has not been limited to YouTube alone, and scammers have also turned to social media platforms like X and Facebook to carry out similar attacks

Just last week, PancakeSwap’s Chinese-language X account was hijacked to promote a fake token called “Sir Pancake,” which saw trading volumes surge to nearly 20 million dollars within hours.

A similar breach affected the BNB Chain’s account just days before, where a meme coin dubbed “4” was pushed in a fraudulent campaign, though it later gained traction after the community reclaimed control.

Even prominent institutions have not been spared. In June, hackers took over the official X account of crypto venture firm Andreessen Horowitz to promote a fake $a16z token.

Around the same time, the X account of Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña was used to falsely announce that Bitcoin had been made legal tender in the country.

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