Several well-known billionaire’s official Twitter account recently was targeted by hackers in a Bitcoin scam. Billionaires that were targeted such as Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, and former US president, Barack Obama.
Big company’s Twitter account like Uber and Apple was also targeted by hackers. “Everyone is asking me to give back, and now is the time. You send $1,000, I send you back $2,000.” a tweet from Bill Gates account said. But minutes after it was posted, the tweet was deleted.
As a result, Twitter has to take a big step by stopping many verified accounts marked with blue ticks from tweeting altogether. It is believed that Twitter is still fixing the problem but most of the accounts should be able to tweet again.
A spokesman of Bill Gates said that the problem is part of a larger issue that Twitter is facing.
As reported by BBC, the fact that so many different users have been compromised at the same time implies that this is a problem with Twitter’s platform itself.
The hackers could have done the worst damage with more sophisticated tweets that might harm the reputation of people or organizations.
But the motive of the current problem seems to be clear, that is making as much money as they can. The hackers know that the tweets would not stay up for long. So, it can be said that it was a “smash and grab” operation.
It is important to know that the hackers can add their funds into their Bitcoin wallets to make the scam seem more legitimate.
It can be said that it will be very hard to catch hackers by following the money. Twitter will be facing many questions by law enforcement and users regarding how this problem could have happened.
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.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 15, 2020
Source: BBC, Twitter Support
