Obama, Biden, Gates Twitter accounts hacked in bitcoin scam

AFP

Con artists on Wednesday apparently hacked into the Twitter accounts of technology moguls, politicians and major companies in an apparent bitcoin scam.

The ruse included bogus tweets from Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg and a number of tech billionaires including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The fake tweets offered to send $2,000 for every $1,000 sent to a bitcoin address.

Twitter put out a statement noting that it was aware of a “security incident impacting accounts on Twitter.” The company said it is investigating and working to fix it, and promised an update shortly.

Bezos, Gates and Musk are among the 10 richest people in the world, with tens of millions of followers on Twitter.

The apparently fake tweets were all quickly deleted, although The Associated Press was able to capture screenshots of several before they disappeared.