Popular Counter-Strike professional S1mple calls on YouTube to stop scammers from using his likeness for fake giveaway streams

Popular Counter-Striker professional player Oleksandr "S1mple," who uses Twitch to stream, has called on YouTube, tagging them in a post on X (formerly Twitter), to take down scammers using his images in thumbnails to try to dupe viewers into taking part in fake giveaways. Using the likeness of celebrities for scams is nothing new and has been a mainstay of swindlers online for years.

The Ukrainian CS2 professional shared a screenshot of two YouTube channels streaming on the platform using his image and name. He also mentioned that he exclusively publishes content on another platform. Oleksandr wrote:

"Biggest giveaways still on YouTube, @YouTube @YouTubeGaming do something with this, people still getting scam [sic], i stream only on Twitch"

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"I stream only on Twitch": S1mple shares concern about fake YouTube channels peddling giveaways in his name

The post has garnered a lot of attention, with the official @TeamYouTube account on X replying to the thread and asking the pro player to use the report feature on the website as well.

The thread is also full of other users expressing their disapproval of the video-sharing platform, with many calling them out for not taking action despite having reported many such scammers who continue to take advantage of viewers by using popular gamers' likenesses.

One frustrated user, @_annoynymous, insinuated that YouTube should be manually weeding out such accounts.

Another person, @Aerospacefan46, claimed they had reported the same account multiple times, but no action had been taken.

Others, including @diamondfoxapple, have been trying to help the YouTuber by suggesting that he send the scammers copyright notices. DMCA notices are quite a useful tool, and multiple violations may even result in the account being deactivated automatically.

Another fan urged the CS2 player to make an official account on the platform to deter the algorithm from boosting fake channels.

Typing S1mple's name on YouTube returns a channel resembling the name that currently has over 38K subscribers. That channel is fake, and despite S1mple making the post almost ten hours prior, the "giveaway stream" is still up and running as it replays VODs from his Twitch without any issue.

The fake channel with the livestream is still up (Image via S1mple/YouTube)

Here are some more reactions on X from disgruntled fans who made their distaste known in various ways:

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Other platforms, such as Twitch, are not immune to such fake channels either. During the GTA 6 hype before the trailer was released in December, a fake Rockstar account on Twitch received a ban for allegedly pushing phishing links to viewers.