Watch out for comment reply scams on YouTube, other social media | Scam of the Week

CHICO — I got a message from a reader this week about a scam they encountered through YouTube through the comments on a video.

He managed to avoid the scam, and possibly even anger the scammer which I have to give him props for. Essentially, he commented on a video and received a reply from someone he initially thought was the individual who uploaded said video.

The replier asked that he send them a message through Telegram, an alternative texting app, with a link to their profile. Our reader, curious, followed only to find someone claiming he won a MacBook Pro and a camera made by Sony. He noted that the original comment reply looked legitimate and sent a screenshot. Sure enough, it did seem as though it was the video’s uploader.

But as soon as he got the message about winning prizes, the alarm went off and he began asking questions to the point that the scammer got frustrated.

This kind of scam is one I’ve written about before in regard to other social media sites. Scammers comment on popular posts, videos and other comments trying to get users to click sketchy links, sometimes ones that do in fact look legitimate.