2020 Twitter bitcoin scam
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The 2020 Twitter bitcoin scam was a large-scale hacking of Twitter accounts that started on July 15, 2020 at around 20:00 UTC.[1] Many Twitter accounts, each with millions of followers, were hacked to promote a bitcoin scam.[2]
Incident
The scam asked individuals to send bitcoin currency to a specific cryptocurrency wallet, with the promise that money sent would be doubled and returned.[3]
The perpetrators had gained access to Twitter's administrative tools so that they could alter the accounts themselves and post the tweets directly, with the access gained either possibly through paying off Twitter employees to use the tool, or hacked an employee's account to access the tool directly.
The hacked accounts were those of: Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, MrBeast, Michael Bloomberg, Warren Buffett,[4] Floyd Mayweather Jr., Kim Kardashian, and Kanye West,[5][2] as well as companies like Apple, Uber, and Cash App.[6]
References
- ↑ Iyengar, Rishi (July 15, 2020). "Twitter accounts of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and others apparently hacked". CNN Business. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/15/tech/twitter-hack-elon-musk-bill-gates/index.html. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Musk and Gates 'hacked' in apparent Bitcoin scam" (in en-GB). BBC News. July 15, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53425822. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
- ↑ Sheth, Sonam (July 15, 2020). "Former President Barack Obama's Twitter account appears to have been hacked as part of a cryptocurrency scam". Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/barack-obama-twitter-account-hacked-in-cryptocurrency-scam-2020-7. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
- ↑ Holmes, Aaron; Leskin, Paige (July 15, 2020). "Hackers took over dozens of high-profile Twitter accounts including those of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian, and Apple and used them to post bitcoin scam links". Business Insider. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
- ↑ Woodward, Alex (July 15, 2020). "Elon Musk, Apple, Bill Gates, Kanye West and more hacked by cryptocurrency scam" (in en). The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/bitcoin-scam-twitter-elon-musk-bill-gates-kanye-west-apple-uber-cryptocurrency-a9621576.html. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
- ↑ Ingram, David; Collier, Kevin. "Biden, Gates, Musk: Bitcoin scam breaches some of world's most prominent Twitter accounts" (in en). NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/suspected-bitcoin-scammers-take-over-twitter-accounts-bill-gates-elon-n1233948. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
