High profile Twitter accounts hacked in cryptocurrency scam

Several high profile Twitter accounts including politicians, entrepreneurs and corporations sent out a scam message soliciting cryptocurrency payments in an apparent hack on Wednesday. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

July 15 (UPI) — The Twitter accounts of several high profile people including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Elon Musk tweeted out a cryptocurrency scam in an apparent hack on Wednesday.

Twitter support tweeted that it was aware of the incident and was investigating and taking steps to fix it, adding that some accounts may be unable to tweet or reset their password while the incident is under review.

The affected accounts, which also included rapper Kanye West, investor Warren Buffet and Apple’s official account all sent out messages including the same bitcoin account promising to double any amount sent to it.

“Everyone is asking me to give back, and now is the time,” one form of the tweet read. “You send $1,000, I send you back $2,000.”

Biden’s campaign said Twitter locked the Democratic presidential candidate’s account and immediately removed the related tweet.

“We remain in touch with Twitter on the matter,” his campaign said.

A representative for Gates also confirmed to The Verge that the Microsoft co-founder did not send the tweet.

“This appears to be part of a larger issue that Twitter is facing. Twitter is aware and working to restore the account,” the representative said.

The tweets began at about 3 p.m. and the bitcoin account associated with the messages has received about $100,000.

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