AI TRENDS | TRM Labs Says YouTube Tutorials Lured Victims Into Deploying Crypto Theft Contracts

Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs said groups posted YouTube tutorials claiming to show how to build AI arbitrage bots with tools such as Claude, then guided victims to deploy and fund smart contracts themselves. According to Foresight News, the scheme did not rely on phishing links, spoofed domains, or malicious prompts, leaving victims to deploy theft contracts on-chain and weakening traditional interception signals. TRM said that from February 2026 to August 2026, nine similar tutorials were linked to about 224 victims, with about 274.6 ETH flowing into six addresses. The videos often used AI-generated hosts and voiceovers, while the scripts and profit demonstrations were highly repetitive. Some tutorials directed users to fake compilation websites that replaced visible source code with malicious bytecode. The funds were then moved through DeFi, cross-chain bridges, and mixers.