So-called YouTube ‘auditors’ are terrorising Britain as they make thousands of pounds posting confrontational videos for clicks.

The internet celebrities shamelessly travel for miles targeting celebrity homes, gated stately manors, and even Princess Diana’s burial site to rage bait homeowners and security into furious rows before publishing the edited posts on social media.

Armed with drones, bodycam and GoPros, those with the most popular channels can reportedly earn £5,000 from each of their high-viewing clips.

One business told MailOnline they received death threats, abusive phonecalls and fake Google reviews from one ‘auditor’s’ followers after one of his videos went viral. 

The employee said it still impacts their business today, calling it an ‘absolutely awful trend which is ruining businesses and people’s livelihoods’. 

Auditors have spoken out to defend their compatriots, saying that their commitment to filming people is ‘ideological’ and there are ‘no bad apples’ within their community.

And a security expert has warned that the drones represent a ‘major threat to privacy’ – and the situation could soon escalate with rich targets using their own technology to shoot down drones and fight back.

MailOnline recently unmasked one menace as local chef Harry Holton, who posed as H Audit and recently targeted Apprentice star Luisa Zissman outside her sprawling Grade II-listed country estate. 

Do you know an ‘auditor’? Email matt.strudwick@mailonline.co.uk 

Apprentice star Luisa Zissman was involved in an extraordinary bust-up with the YouTuber after he tried to fly a drone over her country estate

One toe-curling clip sees him travel to the Spencer family owned Althorp Estate in Northampton where Princess Diana is buried (pictured)

Harry Holton pictured on his bike on Luisa Zissman’s private property where he was involved in a heated confrontation with the Apprentice star

In an infuriating video he lavishes praise on their ‘gorgeous’ building and that he wants to take aerial pictures of it using his drone. But when they politely decline he confronts them until their pleas for him to leave turn into expletive rows. 

Another toe-curling clip sees the 23-year-old travel to the Spencer family owned Althorp Estate in Northampton where Princess Diana is buried. 

Lasting nearly an hour, the edited video sees him mockingly laugh at a ‘softly spoken’ employee and repeatedly call him ‘ridiculous, mate’. 

Holton threatens that he won’t leave if they have called the police. ‘If police attend then I’m going to communicate with them, tell them what I’m doing, and then I’m going to wait for them to leave,’ he goads.

‘If you guys want me gone, being secretive is not effective. If you’ve not called the police then I’d like to get on with my day. But if you have called the police then I’m going to wait here for them to arrive.’ 

The worker calmly tells Holton he ‘came here looking for a problem’ to which the ‘auditor’ rudely responds: ‘You do realise you are being recorded here, mate? Your stupidness will be coming across.’ 

He later says while standing outside the estate: ‘So these guys think the police are going to come and save them, from me. Bless them.

‘You guys need the police to come save you from me. I’m not exactly a threat am I?’

The clip ends with Holton telling two employees they ‘are like teenagers’ and for them to walk away as ‘I need to know that I’ve won’. 

The ‘auditors’ craze which Holton is part of has swept across Britain, with his account boasting 13,000 subscribers. The most popular ‘auditors’, called Auditing Britain, have 256,000.

Harry Holton (pictured) loads content to his social media channels in his spare time away from his job as a chef at a hotel near his home in Rugby in Warwickshire

Neighbours in the cul-de-sac where Holton lives had little clue about his alternative life away from working at a local hotel

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His most ‘popular’ video titled ‘Drone DESTRUCTION – Above the law’ saw him target gated Grade-I stately home Apethorpe Palace in Northamptonshire. It has racked up 120,000 views on YouTube. 

MailOnline understands Holton’s latest antics in which Apprentice star Zissman fought back to track down his home has unsettled the ‘auditors’ community with them now closing ranks.

But others have spoken out to defend him – saying they have a ‘right to film’.

Scouser With A Drone, 36, says that he avoids similar stunts, but would consider putting a camera over a celebrity’s house if it was an interesting property.

He said: ‘Look I am not knocking those guys. They do their thing and I do mine. I think they believe in the right to film – I suppose its ideological.’

The Liverpool-based YouTuber continued: ‘I saw the Luisa Zissman incident and get what all this fuss is about. 

‘But to defend the YouTuber, the house where Luisa lives is interesting for lots of people. 

‘Yes we have footballers on Merseyside but I am not going to film Steven Gerrard’s house for the simple reason that it’s a new build. It has no history or points of interest. 

‘But if he somewhere lived with a rich history, I would consider it.’

Scouser With A Drone, 36, says that he avoids similar stunts, but would consider putting a camera over a celebrity’s house if it was an interesting property

Curtis Arnold covertly filmed Nicola Bulley’s body being lifted from the river. Arnold revealed the lengths to which he and others will go to achieve their ends

DJE Media – aka bodybuilder Curtis Arnold who uses the alias Daniel J Edwards – visiting a car dealership in Birmingham where he walks around filming without permission 

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The YouTuber holds down an office job during the day, and has built up a loyal following filming some of Liverpool’s iconic sites, such as the sprawling Tobacco Warehouse, which is the largest brick building in the world.

He says he would draw the line at major police incidents and said the Merseyside auditor scene is filled with ‘nice lads’ and there are ‘no bad apples’. He has a licence to fly his drone and says the majority of flyers are ‘law abiding’.

An online threat for a mass meet up at Zissman’s property has been urged to be called off by one of the most prolific auditors, DJE Media – aka bodybuilder Curtis Arnold who uses the alias Daniel J Edwards.

But they too are deploying similar rage baiting tactics to bulk their subscriber numbers and boost their video count. 

YouTubers earn around £2.50 to £4.10 for every 1,000 views of a video, reported The Times, meaning it can be a lucrative income for some auditors.  

Arnold’s DJE Media YouTube channel has 153,000 subscribers – significantly more than his former Curtis Media channel. 

He was the TikTok ghoul this newspaper identified who filmed the moment Nicola Bulley’s body was found in the river, sharing his footage online. 

Arnold, from Kidderminster, Worcestershire, even showed the MailOnline his phone, displaying the sum of £716.06, the amount he had made from YouTube for that harrowing video.

A Range Rover later pulls up outside the dealership where a man exits the car and bellows at Arnold who quickly scarpers

A man (pictured) tried to hit the drone controller out of auditor DJ Audits’ hand when filming at Libra Speciality Chemicals Ltd in Manchester

More staff were seen rushing out to confront the YouTuber and asking him to leave, in one of a soaring number of online videos posted by self-styled ‘auditors’ filming outside buildings

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In the end his eight-minute video was viewed 59,000 times – earning Arnold almost £1,000 in royalties – before he was forced to delete it.

Arnold clocked 747,000 views for his 90 minute video on the Rotherham riot last summer that shamed Britain, which could have earned him an estimated £3,000. 

He is seen laughing and joking with yobs before they erupted into chants of ‘send them home’ outside a migrant hotel. Arnold did not take part in any of the rioting.

Another one of his most viewed confrontational videos sees him visit a car dealership in Birmingham and walks around filming without permission. 

He is repeatedly asked to leave and told he is on a private premises, but he tells them ‘I have to fly my drone over your building now’. 

He admits to the sales manager and owner ‘people like natural reaction to me walking in and people either engage or say “go, get out” and people like that’. 

‘My viewers, the people that watch these videos, they enjoy seeing how you guys deal with somebody walking in,’ he says. 

Arnold is seen in the clip flying his drone over the building before getting into a row with a blonde female employee who he barks at ‘go back to work’ after he ‘pushed her hand away’. 

Another account, called Auditing Britain, has 276,000 subscribers and includes clips including this confrontation between the YouTuber and police in Kensington, west London

Auditing Britain’s account also has a video outside Walworth police station in south London

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The owner then comes striding towards him and tells him to ‘f*** off’. 

A Range Rover later pulls up outside the dealership where a man exits the car and bellows at Arnold who quickly scarpers. 

He records  himself running down a rail track while on the phone to police where he says he is being chased. 

A security expert told the Mail that the technology could also be used by companies and individuals to protect their privacy from so called auditors.

He said: ‘The technology works both ways. One of the world’s biggest film stars has his own security detail when he lands in the UK. And they use drones to search for paparazzi, journalists, and trespassers. 

‘I can see a situation soon where security companies will use drones to shoot down flying objects which enter their airspace. Drones represent a major threat to privacy.

‘Imagine a family event on private property, and then you have some idiot flying a drone overhead to film. Some of these craft can film inside homes now, which is deeply worrying. 

‘The rich and powerful will not tolerate this. They will use the technology to defend their privacy and fight back.’

DJ Audits, one of Britain’s leading YouTube auditors with 250 subscribers, went to Libra Speciality Chemicals Ltd in Manchester last year to ‘check their compliance’ with health and safety.

But after he began to film the chemical site using his GoPro and drone, company staff swiftly came out of the workplace to confront him and question his right to record their business.

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DJ Audits, who refused to reveal his identity, informed staff that he did not need their permission as he was filming on ‘public property’.

An argument ensued and a man who staffers identified as their ‘boss’ tried to hit the drone controller out of the auditor’s hand as he told him to ‘f**k off now’.

The YouTuber claims he has never experienced a confrontation like this one while carrying out an ‘audit’.

Leicestershire-based DJ Audits insists he remained on the public pathway and that everything he did was legal.

He is heard in the footage telling staff that he doesn’t need their permission as he ‘is on public property’ and claims he is using the drone to check they are following health and safety guidelines.

He also tells them he would be using his drone to check no one is smoking and everyone was wearing PPE on their site.

The Youtuber told MailOnline that he has never experienced a confrontation like this before while on an audit.

He claimed that while many of his 161,000 YouTube subscribers tune in to see this element of his filming, he never sets out to be confrontational.

DJ Audits said: ‘I feel the incident was shocking and was unusual and an over-reaction.

Retired police officer Ben Pearson (pictured) has called auditers ‘the biggest waste of time’

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‘No laws were broken – the main thing for me is that I like to let people know what I’m doing. I’m always honest and transparent.’ 

One of the most popular YouTube ‘auditor’ accounts, called Auditing Britain, has 316,000 subscribers for videos including footage of Kensington police station in west London as well as officers in Walworth, south London, Hertfordshire and Essex.

Among critics is retired police officer Ben Pearson, who served with West Yorkshire Police for 19 years and calls auditors ‘the biggest waste of time going’.

He said in a YouTube video of his own last year: ‘It’s just not normal. Have you got nothing better to do with your time?

‘These people, these auditors that come out and try to rile people – what have you got in your life that’s that interesting, or should I say that boring? It’s bizarre.

‘When you go to McDonald’s and order a burger, you don’t ask to see the hygiene certificate.’ 

Do you know an ‘auditor’? Email matt.strudwick@mailonline.co.uk