Over the last two days, the accounts of multiple YouTubers and social media stars have been hacked. The hacked accounts include Shane Dawson, James Charles, King Bach, Amanda Cerny, and the account of deceased YouTuber Etika.
The hacks appear to have been perpetrated by the same group with all of the hacked accounts either tagging the now suspended @chucklingsquad, using the hashtag #ChucklingSquad, using the label “chuckling squad,” or using the label “Chuckling RN” while compromised. Additionally, most of the hacked accounts promoted a “Chuckling Server” Discord server where the hackers appeared to be posting screenshots showing that they had access to one of the hacked user's Gmail accounts.
Charles was the most recent YouTuber to be hacked with the hackers changing his Twitter name, editing his Twitter bio, causing him to become unverified on Twitter, and posting a series of offensive tweets from his account.
JAMES CHARLES GOT HACKED TOO LIKE HE ISNT VERIFIED NOW pic.twitter.com/m76Q32UqHf
The Twitter account of Etika, who committed suicide in June, was also hacked with the hackers changing his bio and posting distasteful tweets joking about his death.
Wow, @Etika's account was recently hacked. Do not click the link on Etika's bio. It leads to the hacker's Discord server and it's very likely you'll get DDoS'd, and I hope Twitter fix his account. #etika pic.twitter.com/VtaE5brHNQ
Dawson had his Twitter account hacked and once again, the hackers posted a series of inappropriate tweets while his account was compromised.
https://twitter.com/tombatkai/status/1164937114775097344
King Bach had both his Twitter and Instagram accounts hacked. His Instagram bio was edited to link to what seems to be the “Chuckling Server” Discord server and the hackers posted various photos and videos while they had access to the account. On Twitter, the hackers tweeted insults to various YouTubers, threatened to leak direct messages (DMs), and promoted the “Chuckling Server” Discord server.
https://twitter.com/its_ahmed20/status/1164770131815194625
Cerny's Instagram account was hacked and the hackers posted weird photos and videos to her account while also editing her bio to link to what appears to be the “Chuckling Server” Discord server.
@AmandaCerny your accounts on Instagram are hacked and they're posting weird stuff ? pic.twitter.com/tfUFNTglE2
— Nancy James (@missy_pri2) August 23, 2019
Charles, Dawson, King Bach, and Cerny have all now regained access to their accounts while Etika's account has been restored to its previous state.
Three of the victims and Drama Alert host Keemstar are blaming the carrier AT&T for the hack. Keemstar claims that AT&T allowed hackers to call in and SIM swap the accounts that were hacked.
Yeah @ATT is looking at a major lawsuit for allowing hackers to call in and SIM card switch over big celebrity account! @KingBach @AmandaCerny @Etika @shanedawson
& now @jamescharles all hacked due to ATT human error ! New #DramaAlert today explaining!
— KEEM ? (@KEEMSTAR) August 24, 2019
SIM swaps involve hackers contacting a carrier and convincing them to switch the phone number over to a SIM card that they own. Since the phone number is often a verification method for online services, once hackers have access to a person's phone number, they can use it to compromise many of their online accounts.
Charles has also blamed AT&T for compromising his phone number which he says then led to his social media accounts being hacked. He also claims that AT&T's fraud department hung up on him and said his lawyer will be reaching out.
@ATT My ATT phone number was compromised earlier today and all of my social media accounts were therefore hacked too! Your fraud department just HUNG UP ON ME. Contact me immediately. This is a major security threat & my lawyer will be reaching out too.
— James Charles (@jamescharles) August 24, 2019
King Bach said AT&T was to blame and claimed that an AT&T employee switched his SIM card over to the hacker. He called the company's security “trash” and said he has strong passwords and uses two-step verifications for everything.
Dear @ATT … pic.twitter.com/7PdnqaU9ep
— King Bach (@KingBach) August 24, 2019
Cerny also blamed “human error” at AT&T for the hack and said that she has “all possible steps of verification added” after being hacked previously but that these weren't enough to prevent a second hack.
Second time My phone number was hacked because of human error within company at @ATT ?! I have all possible steps of verification added after the first time again and my account was still compromised… time to switch carriers. Be careful out there everyone.
— Amanda Cerny (@AmandaCerny) August 23, 2019
This isn't the first time AT&T has been accused of being responsible for SIM swapping. The company is currently facing a $224 million lawsuit for a separate SIM swapping incident.
