Your YouTube channel is hacked — videos you never uploaded, a changed channel name, or a strange livestream asking viewers to send cryptocurrency. Act fast, and act in the right order. A YouTube channel is tied to your Google Account, so recovering the channel means recovering the Google Account first.
Do not pay anyone to recover your channel. Scammers advertise "YouTube recovery services" on Telegram, WhatsApp and Instagram and charge money for help that is free through YouTube's own tools. YouTube never asks for payment to recover a channel.
Step 1 — Secure your Google Account first
Do this from a device you trust (not the one that may be infected).
- Go to accounts.google.com/signin/recovery and follow the account recovery steps. If you can still sign in, change the password immediately to a long, unique one you have never used anywhere else.
- Check your recovery email and phone number at myaccount.google.com/security — attackers often change them so you cannot get back in. Fix them first.
- On the same security page, open "Your devices" and sign out of every device and session you do not recognize.
- Turn on 2-Step Verification with an authenticator app (see our 2FA for YouTubers guide).
- Change the password of the email account linked to your channel, and of any other account that reused the same password.
Step 2 — Use YouTube's hacked-channel troubleshooter
YouTube has a dedicated recovery flow for hacked channels. Go to youtube.com/hacked and answer the questions about your channel. It checks whether your channel was renamed, deleted, or had videos added, and guides you through getting it back. Answer honestly — the troubleshooter asks about recent changes to the channel, which helps confirm you are the real owner.
If the troubleshooter cannot restore access, use the "contact support" option it offers at the end, or the help pages at support.google.com/youtube. Only use YouTube's own support — never a "support agent" who contacts you on social media.
Step 3 — Clean the channel
Once you are back in, check everything the attacker may have changed:
- Videos: delete uploads you did not make. Hacked channels are often used to run fake cryptocurrency "giveaway" livestreams — remove them at once.
- Channel details: check the channel name, description, profile picture and links. Restore anything that was changed.
- Managers: in YouTube Studio, go to Settings → Permissions and remove anyone you do not recognize. If your channel uses a Brand Account, check its managers too.
- Connected apps: in your Google Account, remove third-party apps with access to your YouTube account that you do not recognize.
Step 4 — Warn your audience
Post a community post or a short video saying your channel was hacked, and tell subscribers not to click any links or send money or cryptocurrency to anyone claiming to be you. Most hacked channels are used to scam the audience, so a quick warning protects your viewers and your reputation.
Step 5 — Report it and keep records
- Report impersonation or scam videos through YouTube's own report tools.
- Keep screenshots of what changed, and the dates — useful if you need to explain the hack to YouTube support, your bank, or the police.
- If money was stolen from you or your viewers, contact your bank and report the crime to your local cybercrime authority.
How channels get hacked (so it never happens again)
Most channel hacks start the same way:
- Fake brand deals: an email pretending to be a sponsor asks you to download a "brief" or "contract". The file is malware that steals your login session. See our brand deal scams guide.
- Phishing emails: fake "copyright strike" or "monetization" emails link to a fake Google sign-in page that steals your password. See our fake copyright strike emails guide.
- Reused passwords: if your password leaked in another website's data breach, attackers try it on your Google Account too.
- No 2FA: without two-factor authentication, a stolen password is enough to take the whole channel.
Lock it down for good
- Use an authenticator app or a hardware security key for 2-Step Verification — SMS codes are the weakest option.
- Consider Google's Advanced Protection Program (free) if your channel is your income — it is Google's strongest account protection and requires security keys.
- Never download files from sponsors or strangers. Ask for a web link or a document you can view in the browser instead.
- Use a unique password for your Google Account, stored in a password manager.
- Check your Google Account security page once a month for unknown devices and sessions.