Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Barack Obama all have their Twitter accounts HACKED in massive scam that prompts hundreds of victims to send thousands of dollars to a bitcoin account that promises ‘double’ the return
- Numerous high-profile Twitter accounts were hijacked in attack on Wednesday
- Scam tweets requested bitcoin in attempt to dupe gullible victims
- Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s Twitter was hijacked
- Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Kanye West, and Mike Bloomberg were also
- All accounts displayed similar messages requesting bitcoin transfers
- Scam promised to send back double the amount to anyone who donated
- Although many users knew it was a scam, some shared they had sent in money
- Twitter says it is aware of the attack and is working to fix the issue
Twitter has suffered a massive security breach after dozens of prominent accounts were hijacked and displayed scam messages requesting transfers of bitcoin to an anonymous account controlled by the hackers.
The attack unfolded on Wednesday evening, with the affected accounts including presidential candidate Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West.
Former President Barack Obama, the most popular account on Twitter with more than 120 million followers, was also targeted, as were the corporate accounts of Apple and Uber.
In an urgent response to the breach, Twitter took the unprecedented step of temporarily blocking all verified accounts from tweeting. Shares in the company fell nearly 4 percent in after-hours trading.
Former President Barack Obama, the most popular account on Twitter with more than 120 million followers, was targeted by hackers who posted a bitcoin scam to his account
The widespread and coordinated nature of the attack led some experts to speculate that a Twitter employee with administrative access had been hacked, or that a flaw in the login process was being exploited.
A Twitter spokesperson declined to immediately offer specifics on how the attack unfolded when reached by DailyMail.com.
‘We are aware of a security incident impacting accounts on Twitter. We are investigating and taking steps to fix it. We will update everyone shortly,’ the company said in a public statement.
‘You may be unable to Tweet or reset your password while we review and address this incident,’ the company added in an update.
Twitter shares fell nearly 4% in after-hours trading as the company froze all verified accounts
Although individual Twitter accounts have been briefly breached in the past using stolen passwords, the scale of Wednesday’s attack was unprecedented.
Other political figures impacted by the attack included Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg.
The fraudulent tweets all followed a similar formula, and directed potential victims to send bitcoin to the same anonymous wallet.
‘I am giving back to my community due to COVID-19!’ read the scam tweet posted to Obama’s account.
‘All Bitcoin sent to my address below will be sent back doubled. If you send $1,000, I will send back $2,000!’ the fake message continued.
One scam tweet surfaced on Elon Musk’s Twitter account around 4:30pm ET Wednesday
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was also among the victims targeted in the bitcoin scam
The message shared on Bezos’ account stated he is ‘only doing a maximum of $50,000,000.’
Most of the fraudulent tweets disappeared within minutes of first being posted, suggesting that Twitter administrators were playing whack-a-mole with the attacker.
Although many users knew the gesture was the evil working of a cybercriminal, others replied they sent money to the listed account.
The same tweet, with some difference, was shared on Musk’s Twitter account three times after initially surfacing around 4:30pm ET and shortly after on Gates’ page.
The various fraudulent tweets were retweeted thousands of times before disappearing.
Many users are tweeting that the post is a scam, hoping no one will fall for it.
Several Twitter users claimed that they had fallen for the scam and sent bitcoin
However, some appear to have sent money to the address, only to find that they have been duped.
One Twitter user followed the instructions on Musk’s page that said he would send his followers $2,000 if they made a payment of $1,000 – and now the user by the name of ‘will’ finds he has been scammed.