The Twitter accounts of prominent figures from the worlds of tech and money, celebrities, a presidential candidate and a former president were all hacked Wednesday …
The Twitter accounts of prominent figures from the worlds of tech and money, celebrities, a presidential candidate and a former president were all hacked Wednesday in what appears to be one of the largest digital security scams to hit the internet.
Bogus messages soliciting bitcoin appeared on the Twitter accounts for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos, Berkshire Hathaway CEO and president Warren Buffett, former President Obama, presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the corporate accounts for Apple and Uber.
Celebrities were also targeted in the bitcoin scam including rapper Kanye West and his wife Kim Kardashian and rapper Wiz Khalifa.
The tweets promised a “reward” for users if they sent Bitcoin to a specific cryptocurrency address – a scam commonly found online, but rarely successful in penetrating significant accounts. This time, however, the scheme secured more than $100,000 in less than an hour.
“I’m feeling generous because of Covid-19,” the fake tweet read on Musk’s account.
