Several hackers have been using compromised verified Twitter accounts in order to promote a fake Bitcoin giveaway by Elon Musk.
Be aware that this is a scam and you should not by any means send Bitcoin to an address that claims to be owned by Elon Musk.
The tweets have been saying that Tesla Founder is giving away 10,000 Bitcoins to the community and all you have to do is send Musk between 0.1 to 2 Bitcoins to confirm your account.
If you have a look at one of the Bitcoin addresses suggested for payment you see that over 390 transactions have been processed and they have currently received 28 Bitcoin to date. This sums up to over $135,000 at the current Bitcoin prices.
You can see the block explorer here but please, DO NOT donate! This is a scam!
However, there are still people that are donating to the scammers.
The main reason that people are falling for this scam is due to the fake accounts used to promote it have blue ticks next to their Twitter name, hooking in the gullible.
There are several well-known company Twitter accounts which have been caught up and used in the scam such as Pantheon Books and the French film company Pathe.
There are other verified accounts which have been used by the hackers which have commented under the original ‘Elon Musk’ tweet but with different names leading Twitter users to believe that this is legitimate.
One of the accounts was the Swansea City AFC Ladies account who commented saying that they had received back coins under different posts.
Whereas the hackers can change the name on accounts they can’t change the Twitter handle which is a good way to determine which ones are fake. Another indicator is that there are a few spelling mistakes within the tweet which suggests a compromised account.
Accounts which have big followers, the scammers have paid for a Twitter advertisement to promote the tweet, resulting in Twitter showing the scam tweets as promoted posts.
As stated by CBR Online:
“On accounts that have large followers such as Pathé, the scammers have paid for a Twitter advertisement to promoted the tweet, resulting in Twitter showing the scam tweets as promoted posts. Posting the scam on a hacked verified account, combined with positive replies from other compromised blue ticked accounts, shows a decent degree of organisation.”
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