On July 16th of July, there was a bitcoin scam that hit popular Twitter accounts such as Barrack Obama, etc that promised to double funds sent by their followers which turned out to be false. Twitter was able to lock some accounts for protection and began an investigation. It was found that a 17 years old Florida boy masterminded the hacking of celebrity accounts on Twitter.
Also, a 22 years old man in Orlando, Florida also aided the attack and was charged under US federal law, as said by the Justice Department. A 3rd victim is a 22-year-old man in Orlando, Florida was also charged under US federal law with aiding the attack, the Justice Department said.
17 years old Florida boy Bitcoin Scam
Twitter previously said hackers used a phone to fool the social media company’s employees into giving them access. It said targeted “a small number of employees through a phone spear-phishing attack”.
The 17-year-old Graham Clark of Tampa was charged as an adult with 30 felony counts of fraud. He took at least $100,000 from the scheme using celebrity accounts to get the money, state officials said. “He’s a 17-year-old kid who just graduated from high school,” said Florida State Attorney Andrew Warren in Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, “But make no mistake: This was not an ordinary 17-year-old.”
Mason Sheppard, a 19-year-old from Bogner Regis, Britain who used the alias Chaewon, was charged with wire fraud and money laundering while Orlando-based Nima Fazeli, 22, nicknamed Rolex, was accused of aiding and abetting the crimes, according to a Justice Department statement.
Twitter said it appreciated the “swift actions of law enforcement.” Clark and one of the other participants were in custody, officials said. Twitter said the hackers also likely read some direct messages including to a Dutch elected official.
More than $100,000 was obtained, bitcoin’s public ledger showed. Twitter has previously said its employees were duped into sharing account credentials.
Clark “used social engineering to convince a Twitter employee that he was a co-worker in the IT department and had the employee provide credentials to access the customer service portal.”
Warren said the state rather than the federal government was prosecuting Clark because Florida law enabled him to be charged as an adult.
StopSIMCrime founder Robert Ross, whose group tries to combat a popular hacking technique, said the case showed the prowess of adolescent amateurs at defeating corporate security.
“Groups of teens/youngsters are doing this en masse,” he said by email. “It’s really a national security risk.”
