Fake Elon Musk Twitter accounts scam users out of 180K in Bitcoin

Scammers impersonating Tesla CEO Elon Musk gained over $180,000 within a day by compelling folks to give them Bitcoin.

The scammers carried out the fraud by hacking into a confirmed Twitter accounts, altering the profile and photo to this of Musk, prior to sending out tweets that offer a cryptocurrency giveaway.

Although such messages can frequently be observed under tweets out of Musk’s account, hackers lately managed to receive their fraudulent deals advertised by Twitter.

Appears someone murdered a publisher's accounts, changed name to”Elon Musk” and paid for a encouraged conversation to scam people into delivering bitcoin. This”blue checkmark” vulnerability that allows people just change their names and keep the mark has been well known and yet still not mended pic.twitter.com/5bH1yWHyib

— Joe Light (@joelight) November 5, 2018

The messages contain links to sites that instruct users to send Bitcoin so as to receive a considerably larger sum in return.

Numerous Twitter consumers said that as many as three encouraged scams were circulating on the platform within the last several days.

Hi, @Twitter, @jack, you have promoted 3 fake Elon Musk accounts bitcoin scams in my feed. How can this keep happening? pic.twitter.com/xT4HAfWQdH

— Josh (@JoshMLabelle) November 5, 2018

Analysis of a single scammer’s Bitcoin pocket indicates that more than 300 individuals fell for the ruse.

Scammers gathered >$175,000 from over 300 individuals as part of a #BitcoinGiveaway scam.

NO ONE is giving away complimentary Bitcoin… not @elonmusk @jack It's really mad that Twitter collected revenue off these scammers and let them pay to advertise their tweets #shame pic.twitter.com/i713IsHMw8

— 🅼🆁🅸🅴 (@TheRealMarieBTC) November 5, 2018

One Twitter user even claims to have fallen victim to the ploy, detailing why he felt the offer was legitimate in a criticism to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

“Through hubris, I thought I would be fooled this type of scam, so ” Twitter user Cal McCormick explained.

Therefore @TwitterSupport @jack I dropped for the @elonmusk bitcoin scam today. Throughout hubris, I thought I would be fooled this type of scam. Beyond my own idiocy, there are a few part causes that put me down that path that I'd like to boost @BBCNews @guardian @carolecadwalla 1/16

— Cal McCormick (@TweetieMcTweets) November 5, 2018

In an announcement to BleepingComputer, Twitter reaffirmed its policy against impersonating accounts so as to deceive users.

The business also alleged considerable improvement in “the way we handle cryptocurrency scams on the platform. ”

“In recent weeks, user impressions have dropped by a multiple of 10 in recent weeks as we continue to invest in more proactive tools to discover malicious and stereotypical action,” Twitter stated. “This can be a significant improvement on past action prices. ”

Twitter users are urged to be careful of any claims enclosing free Bitcoin also to at all times check that a Twitter user’s manage is legitimate.

The post Fake Elon Musk Twitter accounts scam users from 180K in Bitcoin appeared on The Daily Dot.

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