Twitter Accounts Of Obama, Biden Hacked In Apparent Bitcoin Scam

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden walk through the Crypt of the Capitol for Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony, in Washington, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden walk through the Crypt of the Capitol for Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony, in Washington, January 20, 2017. (Photo by J. Scott Ap... WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden walk through the Crypt of the Capitol for Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony, in Washington, January 20, 2017. (Photo by J. Scott Applewhite - Pool/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

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 didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment

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.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. The hackers considered sending their scheme from Trump’s twitter, but after looking at the percentage of his followers that are bots, they decided it wouldn’t be profitable.

  2. Avatar for ghost ghost says:

    But they promised me lots of money in return for me giving them even more money! And I believe that Obama and Biden are heavily into bitcoin and want me to be too!

    You know, as crappy as our election infrastructure is, in some ways it’s a good thing that most of it isn’t connected to the interwebs.

  3. Does the headline only mention Obama and Biden because this is primarily a political news site? Because the hacked accounts also included the official Twitter accounts of Uber, Apple and several blockchain companies. Leading with the politicians makes it seem… political.

  4. Avatar for ghost ghost says:

    My question is why the scammers thought that people who follow tech moguls and Dem politicians would be likely to fall for the stupid scheme? Seems like it would be much more suitable for Trump followers and people who watch the “invest in gold!” ads on Fox News.

  5. Avatar for grack grack says:

    I think a valid question would be: If trump’s twitter was hacked, how would we even know??

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

60 more replies

Participants

Avatar for valgalky23 Avatar for playitagainrowlf Avatar for fgs Avatar for ghost Avatar for sooner Avatar for mondfledermaus Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for callmeeric Avatar for skippyflipjack Avatar for lastroth Avatar for ignoreland Avatar for greylady Avatar for dickweed Avatar for massie Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for not_so_fluffy Avatar for grack Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for filmknight Avatar for rucleare Avatar for visionseeker Avatar for Volvo_Birkenstock Avatar for Akimbo Avatar for LeeHarveyGriswold

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: