Guide
Your viewers got scammed in your comments. What to do now
It is one of the worst messages a creator can get: a viewer lost money to someone they met in your comments, and they believed it was you. You did nothing wrong, but how you respond matters, both for them and for your channel. Here is what to do.
By Dan, founder of RemoveSpam · Updated
Step by step
Reply calmly and quickly
Acknowledge what happened, make clear it was not you, and that you are sorry they were targeted. Avoid blaming them; many careful people fall for well-made scams.
Tell them to stop all contact and payments
They should not send anything more, even if the scammer promises to return the money for a fee. That is usually the next stage of the same scam.
Point them to the right places to report it
Their bank or payment provider first, and quickly, since some payments can be stopped or disputed. Then the police or their national fraud reporting service. If they paid in crypto, the exchange they sent from should also be told.
Warn them about “recovery” offers
People who have just been scammed are often contacted by “recovery services” promising to get the money back for a fee. These are almost always scams too.
Remove what is still up
Find and delete any remaining comments from the scam accounts, hide those accounts from your channel, and report them to YouTube.
Warn everyone else
Pin a comment saying you never ask anyone to message you elsewhere, never run giveaways in replies and never ask for money. Consider a short mention in your next video.
Why they thought it was you
Scam accounts copy a creator’s name and picture, and reply to viewers personally, sometimes within minutes of their comment. To someone who watches you regularly, a reply from “you” feels completely normal. That is the whole design of the scam.
Stopping it from happening again
The comments that lead to these scams are usually up for hours before anyone notices, because they arrive when you are busy or asleep. In RemoveSpam’s data, 90% of spam on a video arrives within 24 hours of upload. Protection has to be in place during exactly those hours.
RemoveSpam checks your newest video every minute and removes impersonating replies and disguised contact details automatically, so the next viewer never sees them.
Common questions
Am I responsible if a viewer is scammed in my comments?
This is not legal advice, but creators are generally the victims of impersonation too, not the scammers. What viewers and the wider audience will judge is how you respond: quickly, clearly, and with steps to stop it happening again.
Can the money be recovered?
Sometimes, if the bank or payment provider is told quickly. Crypto transfers are much harder to reverse. Anyone promising guaranteed recovery for a fee should be treated as another scam.
The scams behind this
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