Ethereum Arbitrage Bot Scam: How It Steals Your ETH (2025)

If you found a YouTube video showing someone earning hundreds or thousands of dollars daily with an Ethereum arbitrage bot, you discovered a scam. These videos appear on hijacked channels with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, use AI-generated presenters, and direct victims to fake coding websites that steal deposited cryptocurrency the moment you click deploy.

Ethereum arbitrage bot videos on YouTube are coordinated scams that have stolen over 15 million dollars from more than 25,000 victims since 2022.

• Scammers hijack legitimate YouTube channels or purchase accounts to appear credible
• Videos show fake profits of 1–7 ETH per day using DEX arbitrage trading bots
• Victims are directed to fake Remix IDE websites that swap the contract code during deployment
• Deposited ETH goes directly to the scammer's wallet, not into any trading bot
• One scam video generated over 900,000 dollars in stolen funds from a single campaign

How the Ethereum Arbitrage Bot Scam Works

The scam begins with YouTube videos titled things like "How I Make 2,400 Dollars Daily With Ethereum Arbitrage" or "Passive Income MEV Bot Tutorial." These videos appear on channels with significant subscriber counts, lending false credibility. The presenter—often AI-generated or using a hijacked identity—claims they received the bot code from a "dark web friend" and that it automatically finds price differences across decentralized exchanges like Uniswap.

The video shows the presenter deploying a smart contract using Remix IDE, depositing a minimum of 0.5 ETH to fund the bot, and watching their balance grow over 24 hours. They emphasize that arbitrage is a real trading strategy and show blockchain transactions as "proof" of profits. The comment section is filled with testimonials from users claiming the bot worked perfectly, but these comments are fake accounts or curated using YouTube’s comment filtering to hide warnings.

This is where the scam happens. The video provides a link to what appears to be Remix IDE, Ethereum's legitimate development environment. But the URLs are fake domains designed to look similar to the real Remix site. Common fake domains include forge-eth.world, remix.ec, remixeth.ec, and many others. When you paste the contract code and click deploy, the fake website silently swaps your wallet address with the scammer's address in the contract constructor without showing you the change.

The contract you actually deploy contains hidden code that routes all deposited funds directly to the scammer’s wallet. The start, stop, and withdrawal buttons shown in the video are dummy functions. The real withdrawal function is restricted to the scammer’s operator address hardcoded into the contract during that invisible swap. Your ETH is gone the moment you deposit it—no arbitrage trading ever occurs.

Why Real Arbitrage Bots Do Not Work This Way

Arbitrage trading is a legitimate strategy where traders profit from price differences of the same asset across different exchanges. Professional traders and institutions use sophisticated bots to execute these trades in milliseconds. However, retail arbitrage bots shared freely on YouTube cannot be profitable for several reasons.

Real arbitrage opportunities last only fractions of a second before automated trading systems eliminate the price difference. Professional MEV bots compete using advanced infrastructure and pay priority fees to be processed first. A simple smart contract deployed by a beginner cannot compete with institutional-grade systems that spend millions on latency optimization.

Real MEV bots also use private, proprietary code. No legitimate developer shares profitable trading algorithms publicly, especially not for free on YouTube. The "dark web friend" narrative is just a psychological trick to make the scam sound exclusive.

The contract code shown in these videos often includes realistic-looking function names like "searchMemPool" and "detectArbitrage," but these functions do nothing or contain placeholder code. Smart contracts cannot access off-chain data like mempool activity or API endpoints without oracle services—which these scams never use. The code is designed to look convincing to non-developers, not to perform arbitrage.

What Happens to Your Money

The ETH you deposit into the fake arbitrage bot contract is immediately or gradually transferred to the scammer’s wallet. Research tracking these operations found that individual campaigns collect between 5 and 244 ETH before the scammer abandons that contract and creates another. One scam wallet collected 244.9 ETH—over 900,000 dollars—from a single YouTube campaign.

Scammers use a wide-net approach, stealing smaller amounts from many victims. Losses typically range from 0.5 to 5 ETH, and many victims do not file complaints, allowing the scam to persist. Scammers launder stolen funds through multiple wallets and exchanges, often cashing out in jurisdictions with weak oversight.

Cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible. You cannot file a chargeback, and the smart contract you deployed—while malicious—is still valid code. Because you voluntarily interacted with the contract, traditional fraud recovery methods don't apply. However, blockchain tracing can follow where the funds were sent. Professional services like Rankedsafe.com specialize in tracking stolen cryptocurrency through wallet chains and identifying points where funds hit regulated exchanges. This evidence can help freeze assets before they are withdrawn. Recovery is not guaranteed, but blockchain forensics is the only legitimate path.

How to Identify Fake Remix IDE Sites

The real Remix IDE is hosted at remix.ethereum.org. Any other domain offering a Remix-like interface is a scam designed to steal your cryptocurrency. Scammers register domains that look similar to the legitimate site—such as remix.ec, remixeth.world, forge-eth.world, or remix-ide.net—to trick users.

Before deploying any smart contract, manually verify the URL in your browser. Bookmark the official Remix site and only use that bookmark. Never click links provided in YouTube descriptions, social media posts, or unsolicited messages. Scammers use Unicode characters and subtle misspellings to fool victims.

Legitimate Remix IDE is an open-source project maintained by the Ethereum Foundation. It will never require you to create an account, submit personal information, or deposit funds. If a Remix-like site asks for verification, email addresses, or deposits, it is fake.

Quick FAQ

Can I get my ETH back after depositing into a fake arbitrage bot?

Direct recovery is extremely unlikely. Crypto transactions are irreversible. Your only option is blockchain tracing to identify where the funds were sent and attempt to freeze them at exchanges before they are withdrawn. Contact Rankedsafe.com or similar forensics services if the amount lost is significant.

How can I tell if a YouTube channel is hijacked for scam promotion?

Check for sudden topic changes. Scammers hijack established channels and erase old content. If a cooking or tech channel suddenly posts crypto arbitrage videos, it was likely compromised. AI-generated presenters with robotic speech and unnatural facial movement are also common signs.

Is all arbitrage trading a scam?

No. Arbitrage is legitimate, but the YouTube bots are scams. Real arbitrage requires advanced infrastructure and private algorithms. No profitable bot is given away for free.

What if the contract code looks legitimate?

The code you see is not the code that gets deployed. Fake Remix sites modify the code during deployment, injecting the scammer’s address into the constructor. Even reviewing the code beforehand won’t protect you.

Should I report the YouTube video?

Yes. Reporting helps remove scam content, but it will not recover your funds. Scammers create new videos constantly, often faster than platforms can remove them.

Protect Yourself From Future Crypto Scams

Never trust investment opportunities promoted via YouTube, TikTok, or unsolicited messages. Legitimate profitable strategies are never shared publicly for free. If someone claims guaranteed passive income, it is a scam.

Always verify URLs before entering sensitive information or connecting your wallet. Bookmark trusted sites like remix.ethereum.org. Enable two-factor authentication on your exchange accounts and use hardware wallets for significant holdings.

Be skeptical of any system showing consistent daily profits. Real trading involves risk and volatility. If something sounds too good to be true, it is.

Bottom line: Ethereum arbitrage bot videos on YouTube are sophisticated scams using hijacked channels and fake Remix IDE sites to steal cryptocurrency. Real arbitrage requires professional infrastructure and is never shared for free. If you lost funds, blockchain tracing through services like Rankedsafe.com offers the only legitimate recovery path.