A number of high-profile Twitter accounts were simultaneously hacked on Wednesday by attackers who used the accounts — some with millions of followers — to spread a cryptocurrency scam. Individuals targetted in the hack included presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Kayne West, Michael Bloomberg, and Warren Buffett among many others.

The scam prompted individuals to send bitcoin currency to an internet address and that their money would be sent back DOUBLED. The hacked tweets said this offer would only last for 30 minutes.

Twitter acknowledged the situation at 2:45 PT Wednesday afternoon, referring to it as a “security incident.” Twitter Support promptly acknowledged the security incident and released this tweet:

The scammer’s website was quickly pulled offline. Kristaps Ronka, chief executive of Namesilo, the domain registrar used by the scammers, told TechCrunch that the company suspended the domain “on the first report” it received.

Some of the accounts were quickly back under their owners’ control and tweets were quickly deleted. @apple also had its account hacked to push the same scam, as well as Amazon co-founder @jeffbezos and @billgates, whose account was also briefly hacked with the same message, though the tweet was quickly deleted.

While the scope of Wednesday’s Twitter hack is unprecedented on the social network, the kinds of scams being promoted are common. Scammers take over high-profile Twitter accounts using breached or leaked passwords and post messages that encourage users to post their cryptocurrency funds to a particular address under the guise that they’ll double their “investment.” In reality, it’s simple theft, but it’s a scam that works. By the time of writing, the blockchain address used on the scam site had already collected 2.8 bitcoin — some $25,700 in today’s currency — and it’s going up by the minute.

It’s not immediately known how the account hacks took place. Security researchers, however, found that the attackers had fully taken over the victims’ accounts, and also changed the email address associated with the account to make it harder for the real user to regain access.

In a 6:32PM EST report from Alex Salvi, it appears CNN is the only verified account that is able to currently tweet.

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.


We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.