Bitcoin scammers hack Twitter accounts of high profile users in America

High-profile users in America were in for a shock as accounts of major companies and individuals were compromised. In a blitzkrieg, Bitcoin scammers targetted some of the most recognisable faces on Twitter.

Elon Musk's account posted the first of the mysterious tweets - it asked the Twitterati to send money to a Bitcoin wallet address which is like a bank account number for Bitcoin transactions.

Followers were told their money will be doubled. Soon, former president Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, the world's richest man - Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft's billionaire founder Bill Gates, the i-Phone maker Apple and several other verified accounts began tweeting similar posts.

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Millions of users follow these accounts and they fell into a trap. So far, the hacker has pocketed over 100,000 dollars but it took Twitter two hours to respond to the rapid hacks. For the first time ever it froze all verified accounts and all fake tweets were deleted but they began to reappear as fast as they were being erased.

The hacker was in total control as Twitter's two-step verification was easily breached. Twitter had an embarrassing answer - it said the hacker gained access to Twitter employee’s admin privileges. Technically, Twitter was the first to get hacked in the fiasco. CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted saying he feels terrible over what has happened but it is not the first time the social media platform has been hacked.

Last year Dorsey's account was hijacked and the company promised to fix the loopholes.

Clearly, it has not done enough and now the platform is facing its biggest scandal - the head of products at Twitter Kayvon Beykpour said sorry to users. However, it may not be enough to quieten the outrage. Politicians are a worried lot in the run upto to the US presidential election.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley has already written to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. The letter lists immediate concerns, reserving the most important question to the end: did the attack threaten the security of President Donald Trump's Twitter account?

The concern is justified, the hacker could have had a field day with Trump's account. Whoever is behind the hacking could have caused more damage as the access they had is unprecedented.

They were after money, hence caused no major harm to reputations, but Twitter will have to answer tough questions. It won't be long before investigation agencies come knocking.

Can Twitter really come out of this with its reputation intact?