The fake Elon Musk Bitcoin scam on Twitter managed to hack several high profile accounts to make the scam appear legit.
If there’s one thing that hackers can be accused of, it’s the ability to be highly inventive. Case in point is the recent Bitcoin scam carried out on Twitter. A fake account pretending to be Tesla CEO Elon Musk managed to rake in over $180,000 in ill-gotten profits. However, the scam went a bit further by the hackers taking over the accounts of some high profile entities.
Multiple Twitter Accounts Hacked
Last week, Live Bitcoin News reported of the latest Bitcoin scam to take place on Twitter. A fake Elon Musk account was used to lure the gullible in sending some BTC to a wallet in the promise of getting up to a 10x return.
The scam was further sweetened by the hackers taking control of some higher profile Twitter accounts. These accounts were used to bolster the false legitimacy of the fake Elon Musk giveaway.
These notable accounts included U.S. politicians (Representative Frank Pallone Jr. and California state senator Ben Allen), an Israeli politician (Rachel Azaria), the EU-based Pathe film production company, and the Capgemini consulting firm.
In now-deleted tweets, the hacked Ben Allen account said, “I sent 0.50 BTC and got back 5 Bitcoins!” Rachel Azaria’s hacked account tweeted, “+25 BTC, thank you!”
Other notable accounts hacked for the Twitter Bitcoin scam include the Indian national disaster management authority as well as the Indian consulate in Frankfurt, who tweeted, “I sent 0.50 BTC and got back 5 Bitcoins!”
Overall, it appears that the fake Elon Musk account made good on some minor transactions to make the entire enterprise seem on the up-and-up. The use of the other hacked accounts just lent some extra legitimacy to the scam.
Bitcoin Scams Abound on Twitter
Twitter says that they are fighting to stop such Bitcoin scams from taking place. The social media platform has said:
Impersonating another individual to deceive users is a clear violation of the Twitter Rules. Twitter has also substantially improved how we tackle cryptocurrency scams on the platform. In recent weeks, user impressions have fallen by a multiple of 10 in recent weeks as we continue to invest in more proactive tools to detect spammy and malicious activity. This is a significant improvement on previous action rates.
However, the hits do keep coming. Back in August, researchers found that over 15,000 Twitter bots were pushing cryptocurrency scams. In just the last two days, both Google’s G Suite account and that of retail giant Target were both hacked to promote the latest Bitcoin scam.
The reality is that such Twitter scams will continue as long as people keep taking the lure of free money. If the deal sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
Have you ever fallen victim to a Twitter Bitcoin scam? Let us know in the comments below.
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