"Claude AI" Crypto Arbitrage Bot YouTube Tutorial Scam
Last changed 2026-11-02 · Fact-check review — Fact-check review (verdict: revise): the reviewer checked the page's claims against its sources; the trust score did not change. Version history →
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anchored·3kZGRK…kwkzSummary
A coordinated scam operation, active between at least February and August 2026, distributed nine near-identical YouTube tutorials purporting to teach viewers how to deploy a "Claude-built" AI crypto arbitrage bot. According to TRM Labs, the deployed smart contracts contained no trading logic whatsoever and simply forwarded any funds sent to them to operator-controlled addresses; 224 victims lost 274.60 ETH (approximately $517,205 USD) across six shared collection addresses. SentinelOne independently documented the same pattern of Ethereum drainers masquerading as AI trading bots on YouTube, tracing an overlapping campaign that collected over $900,000 USD from a single operator address.
Connected Entities
3 entities · 60 linked investigations- "Claude AI" Crypto Arbitrage Bot YouTube Tutorial Scam→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
- "Claude AI" Crypto Arbitrage Bot YouTube Tutorial Scam→mentioned with→Polymarket(60%)
Timeline(6 events)
6 June 2024
YouTube channel @Jazz_Braze published "How to Create Passive Income MEV Bot on Ethereum," an early iteration of the drainer-as-trading-bot pattern documented by SentinelOne. The video accumulated over 387,000 views before SentinelOne's report. A "free offer" urgency window (June 6-30, 2024) was used as a persuasion tactic.
SentinelOne Labs7 August 2025
SentinelOne published research documenting Ethereum drainers posing as MEV and trading bot tutorials on YouTube, identifying specific channels, wallet addresses, and obfuscation techniques. The most active identified address had received over $900,000 USD.
SentinelOne Labs12 February 2026
Earliest victim transaction in the TRM Labs-tracked cluster of "Claude-built arbitrage bot" YouTube tutorial drainers, based on on-chain data analysis.
TRM Labs1 April 2026
Earliest YouTube video in the nine-video "Claude AI arbitrage bot" cluster identified by TRM Labs was posted, approximately.
TRM Labs11 August 2026
Latest victim transaction in TRM Labs' tracked window. By this date, 224 victims had lost 274.60 ETH (~$517,205 USD) across 234 deployed contracts, all funds flowing to six shared operator collection addresses.
TRM Labs1 September 2026
TRM Labs published its investigation into fake AI trading bot drainers, documenting the nine-video "Claude-built arbitrage bot" YouTube cluster, victim count, total ETH drained, and fund movement patterns. Nine videos had accumulated 310,474 combined views as of publication.
TRM LabsDecision Log
- slot 464352558 · hash 9k8h5vy68cZLViGBcsX3df2WH36ihJN1mUyRsap4TDQ9
- slot 464352553 · hash 48iyb5gmDp2oq4FC9vUMTQMztqF89L8F6sL8PDKJjQhv
- slot 448148082 · hash 233zNyuewjER528YjMa6XBE96AAgjC6MyoaNkMZJtRsN
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (3 decisions). 3 of 3 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 9/18/2026, 5:14:39 PM
last updated: 11/2/2026, 3:58:17 AM
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