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The official YouTube channel of esports organization Team SoloMid (TSM) was terminated today, August 4. The iconic team lost its YouTube channel to hackers who repurposed the channel in order to run a Bitcoin and cryptocurrency scam.
The account was hacked on August 3 and began running a stream promoting the cryptocurrency scam in a short while. Today, the organization's main channel, as well as all of its videos, has now been terminated by YouTube. It is unlikely that either can be recovered by the esports team.
TSM YouTube channel getting hacked different from other similar incidents
This seems to be the latest in a string of similar hacks, where YouTube and Twitch channels with large subscriber counts fall prey to hackers looking to reach a wider audience for their crypto scams. Other notable accounts to be hacked in recent months were the Twitch and YouTube channels of streamers Fedmyster and Reckful.
What makes this hack different from other notable hacks is that the TSM YouTube channel was quite active before being compromised. Fedmyster was off of social media following sexual harassment allegations before his account was taken, and Reckful had passed away. Plus, it must have been much more difficult to hack the channel of a large, active esports organization.
Also, unlike previous hacks, the cryptocurrency scam that was being run was promoted a bit differently. Many previous scams purported to be affiliated with the electric car company Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk. This scam used the likeness of Dana White, President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, in addition to Musk. A stream offered by TSM's channel used footage of White appearing on a podcast to discuss Connor McGregor and Paddy Pimblett.
Team SoloMid was founded by Andy "Reginald" Dinh in 2009. Originally started as an online community for League of Legends guides, Reginald created and played on the organization's first professional esports team in 2011. Since then, the TSM has become one of the most iconic brands in the gaming world, with partnered content creators and streamers as well as a large presence across various esports scenes.
Being such a large organization with millions of fans, it seems unfathomable that TSM's main YouTube channel could suddenly be gone, along with the hundreds of videos that were posted on the channel. Now that it's been deleted by YouTube, it is unlikely that it or its uploads can be recovered.
