A Scammer Stole $50,000 in Bikes Using This MTB YouTuber’s Identity
In early December 2025, Seth Alvo of Berm Peak, a popular cycling YouTube channel with over 2.5 million subscribers, was made aware that someone had stolen his identity using LLMs like ChatGPT to create false YouTube channel analytics, convincing emails, and defraud bike brands of over $50K in bikes under the pretense that the bikes would be reviewed on the Berm Peak YouTube channel. But the scammer and his carelessness are not the worst part, the suspect had a number of roommates who are all convicted of similar crimes, much more disgusting than fraud…
I know most of us have come across the Berm Peak YouTube channel, formerly known as Seth's Bike Hacks, while flipping through YouTube. Seth Alvo, the man behind the channel, is an incredibly positive and inquisitive figure in the MTB scene. Over the years, Berm Peak has steadily grown to almost 3 million subscribers, thanks to his personality, love for the sport, and viral video content. But with popularity and notoriety come the leeches and scumbags, and it sounds like the year ended chaotically for the team after a scammer stole Seth's identity and began reaching out to a ton of brands asking for products.
Berm Peak
While the scammer successfully obtained bikes from several brands, many companies noticed something suspicious about the communications. They reached out to the Berm Peak communications manager to confirm whether the bike requests were, in fact, legitimate. Thankfully, the team at Berm Peak acted quickly, tracked down the shipping address the scammer was using, and the Greensboro Police Department visited the house. What they found was a pile of bikes, the perpetrator, and his roommates. It turns out that all the people living in this house were convicted of similar crimes, and as Seth puts it in the video, “This is sort of a halfway house for Chomo’s (slang for child molester).”
The scammer has been caught and is in custody, awaiting trial, facing a handful of felony-level fraud charges. The brands whose bikes were stolen have been notified of the incident, and much of the inventory has been returned to the affected companies.