On the 16th of July, 2020 Twitter experienced a breach, and the accounts of many prominent public figures had fake tweets posted claiming to double the deposit of those who send Bitcoin to a designated address.
While the source of the hack is yet to be determined (as of the time this article was published), the scam's method is one of the oldest tricks in the book - "send us money and we'll send you back more". It may seem simple, even ridiculous, but for those who trust the credible individuals they thought posted the message, it was believable.
The fact of the matter is that of late, fraudsters and scammers have seized the opportunity and taken advantage of the current global economic climate by promising free money to ease the financial burden on those who have fallen on hard times. There are a few important lessons to take away from this occurrence, the main one being that there's no such thing as free money.
Another common mistaken belief that most individuals make is that it can't or won't happen to to them. To whomever is reading this- you, yes you, are also susceptible. Anyone can fall victim to a scam, regardless of creed, religion, gender, location, or socioeconomic status; the best thing that we can do to protect ourselves is to stay vigilant, and stay informed.
Check out the blog post from Twitter regarding the incident.
Official resources
- United States: SEC database, FBI IC3
- Canada: NRS database
- Australia: ASIC database
- UK: FCA database, Action Fraud UK