A number of high-profile Twitter accounts were simultaneously hacked on Wednesday by attackers to spread a cryptocurrency scam, according to a report by Tech Crunch.
The accounts being hacked included technology company @Apple, Amazon co-founder @jeffbezos, Democratic presidential candidate @joebiden, Tesla and SpaceX founder @elonmusk, and Microsoft founder @billgates. Some of the accounts were quickly back under their owners' control and the tweets sent out when those accounts were compromised were quickly deleted, the report said.
Tech Crunch said in the report that these kinds of scams 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."
According to the report by Tech Crunch, security researchers 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.
A Twitter spokesperson said the company was "looking into" the matter but didn't immediately comment on the report.
