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Major Twitter Hack Masterminded By Teenager

Major-Twitter-Hack-Masterminded-By-Teenager

The “Mastermind” behind the July Twitter hack has been identified as a teenager from Florida.

The Twitter accounts of some major players were hacked in July. The accounts of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Apple, Uber, Barack Obama, Kanye West, Joe Biden, and numerous others were hacked and used to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The con that was used was a Bit-con, where the hacker sent a message out on these accounts asking followers to make payments to Bitcoin accounts and promised to pay double the deposited amount in return, as a way of giving back to the fans of these victims.

The mastermind behind this ploy has been identified as a Tampa Florida teenager and is said to have made $100 00 in a single day.

The manhunt involved the FBI, the IRS, the Secret Service, the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, and Florida law enforcement agencies and led to the arrest of a seventeen-year-old.

The suspected hacker is now facing 30 felony charges that include:

  • Fraudulent Use of Personal Information – 10 counts
  • Organized Fraud (Over $50,000) – 1 count
  • Access Computer or Electronic Device Without Authority (Scheme to Defraud) – 1 count
  • Fraudulent Use of Personal Information (Over $100,000 or 30 or more victims) – 1 count
  • Communications Fraud (Over $300) – 17 counts
Tweet from Obama's hacked Twitter

The authorities have expressed concerns that the money stolen might not be recoverable as it is in crypto-currency, which is very difficult to trace and recover.

The State Attorney Andrew H Warren Said:

“These crimes were perpetrated using the names of famous people and celebrities, but they’re not the primary victims here. This ‘Bit-Con’ was designed to steal money from regular Americans from all over the country, including here in Florida. This massive fraud was orchestrated right here in our backyard, and we will not stand for that.” Warren also mentioned that this is “not an ordinary 17-year-old.”

Warren has also revealed that the teenager gained access “to the internal controls of Twitter, by compromising a Twitter employee. He compromised the security of a Twitter employee, which allowed him to gain access to that accounts and controls, and that gave him access to whatever Twitter account he wanted, he was then selling access to those accounts,” he said.

Twitter says that 130 accounts were targeted in this major attack and that tweets were sent out from 45 of those accounts. A further 36 accounts were accessed via there direct message inboxes, including an elected official in the Netherlands.

These attacks are a sober reminder that no-one’s information is safe for those who are willing to do harm. The most astonishing part is that the “mastermind” was so young, which just proves that there is no age limit on being Tech-savvy and ruthless.