Over a dozen politicians and tech entrepreneurs including former US President Barack Obama, Telsa CEO Elon Musk, and Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates fell victim to a coordinated Twitter hacking campaign this morning after their accounts were hijacked for a massive bitcoin scam.
The accounts asked followers to transfer them bitcoin, with the promise that donors will be sent more bitcoin in return.
Many of the tweets bore a link to the same cryptocurrency wallet, meaning funds were transferred to a singular address.
Blockchain.com, which tracks bitcoin transfers, states one wallet linked to the tweets has received over US$115,000 (AU$164,000) in bitcoin.
Democratic Party presidential hopeful Joe Biden, his short-lived political opponent Kanye West, and Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos were also hit by the attack.
But individuals weren’t the only targets. The accounts of tech giants Apple and Uber also posted similar messages and dodgy bitcoin wallet links.
Most of the tweets were quickly nuked from the platform, and Twitter has temporarily suspended all verified ‘blue check’ accounts from posting while they investigate the hack.
You may be unable to Tweet or reset your password while we review and address this incident.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 15, 2020
More to come.
