A real scan: 43 scam comments hiding in 589
Channel: one real creator channel (anonymized) · Scope: all public comments on the channel’s 10 most recent videos — 589 comments, every one read · Scan date: October 2026 · Access: read-only, public comments only. Comments YouTube holds for review are not publicly visible and are not counted.
What the 43 were doing
| Scam pattern | Count | How it worked |
|---|---|---|
| Impersonation | 30 | Accounts posing as the creator or their team, luring fans to a “private page”, a “backup page”, or an off-platform chat. |
| Copy-paste solicitation | 13 | The same invite link pasted 13 times by one fake account under a single video. |
| Fake giveaway / prize claims | 0 | None found in this scan. |
| Crypto / investment bait | 0 | None found in this scan. |
| Total verified scam-pattern comments | 43 | From 7 distinct fake accounts. |
Where they clustered: 29 of the 43 sat under a single video; the rest spread across 3 more — 4 of the 10 videos were affected. The comments span October 2025 to October 2026, and 13 of them were posted in the scan month itself.
What fans actually saw (real comments, anonymized)
Quoted as posted, with names and handles removed — wording otherwise unchanged.
“Hello beloved fan, you have such a profound impact on [the creator]’s career with your comments, love and support. The thank you fails to express our gratitude to you. We love you and [the creator] want you to write him personally. Send me a message if you care to write [the creator] for his personal contact thank you. I’m [name removed] and I’m his personal online manager”
Recommended: remove + block. An invented “manager” persona makes the lure feel official — fans hand over contact details believing they are talking to the team.
“Hello [fan’s name] I have seen a quite handful of your comment on my post uploaded on my business page, so I decided to create a more private page to appreciate those people whose comments and good wishes encourages me and I hope to bring you guys more… thanks a lot, I feel so honored and blessed to have an amazing fan like you.”
Recommended: block the accounts, not just the comments — one template, many fans, posted again and again under the channel’s most-watched video.
On this channel the lures pointed to “private” or “backup” pages rather than naming a messenger app. The same impersonation pattern is usually run across platforms at once — a fan who follows the lure leaves YouTube entirely.
See what’s hiding in your comments
This channel’s owner did not know 7 fake accounts were working their comment section — the scams were replies to fans, easy to miss from the uploader’s chair. Your free scan reads the public comments on your 10 most recent videos and emails you a report in this exact format, with your channel’s real numbers.
The free scan is a $0 product — no card, no channel login, read-only. Founding members get a scan like this every month, so the fake accounts get caught as they appear, not a year later.
Method & limits
This scan read published public comments only — the same comments anyone can read on the channel’s video pages. It cannot see comments YouTube is holding for review, deleted comments, or any private data.
Every flagged comment was verified by human review against the impersonation and solicitation patterns above. Counts are this channel’s scanned comments only — not a YouTube-wide figure.
This report deleted nothing and changed nothing on the channel. Removing the comments and reporting the accounts is the channel owner’s next step — the scan shows exactly which ones, and where.
CleanComments for YouTube (working name) — early validation project by an independent developer.
“My apologies for the unsolicited message, I’m [the creator], I was going through my posts, watching videos of myself, your engagement on my posts caught my attention which is why I contacted you exclusively and would love to text with you on a private space, if you don’t mind.”
Recommended: remove + report the account for impersonation. The “private space” is where the actual scam happens — off YouTube, out of sight.