Fake AI bot tutorials steal 274.6 ETH from 224 victims
Ethereum (ETH)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
According to bitcoinethereumnews.com, nine YouTube videos promoting AI-powered crypto arbitrage bots directed users to compilers controlled by scam operators. These tutorials tricked 224 victims into deploying malicious smart contracts that stole 274.6 ETH. The stolen assets were valued at approximately $517,000 at the time of the report.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for ETH, measured when this story was written up on 18 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
ETH is trading at $2,447.28 with a 1-hour buy ratio of 51.9%, indicating a slight edge for buyers in the short term. This contrasts with a 4-hour buy ratio of 62.3%, showing stronger accumulation over a slightly longer window. The 24-hour buy ratio sits at 49.9%, suggesting that buying pressure is fading over the full day. Volume delta reflects this shift, with a positive +$1,455,559 in the last hour and +$76,775,878 over four hours, but a negative -$1,204,462 over 24 hours. This means that while recent flows are net buying, the daily total has seen more selling than buying overall.
The latest daily buy ratio of 46.8% sits at the 16th percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 49.5% - weaker buying than most days.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for ETH, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the average buy ratio was 48.2%, making today's 24-hour reading of 49.9% slightly above the norm by 1.7 points. However, spot volume was only 0.66x the weekly average, indicating significantly lower activity than usual. The coin saw net buying on only 2 of the past 7 days, with a total 8-day volume delta of -$201,123,899. This marks a day of relatively low volume compared to the average, despite a modest increase in buying ratio. The price change over 8 days was +0.4%, showing minimal movement despite the volume drop.