More Fake Elon Musk Accounts Promote Bitcoin (BTC) Scams As Twitter Tackles Them

Bitcoin scammers have flooded Twitter once again pretending to be Elon Musk. The shady individuals use hacked verified accounts to promote fake giveaways to rip off unsuspecting Twitter users.

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On Monday, a UK clothing brand, Farah menswear, as well as an Australian office of IT consulting firm were hijacked by scammers. All Twitter accounts tweeted that they were starting a giveaway. Looking at the tweets, they appear as though they were tweeted by Musk. The only factor that showed it was a scam was the names of the handles the tweets were coming from.

The menace of scammers on Twitter

Lots of other businesses have been taken over by these scammers for fraudulent purposes. Some include a record label and a book publisher. The mode of operation is hijacking verified accounts with thousands of followers and then changing the profile picture and name to impersonate Musk. They use other verified accounts to claim they have received the crypto. They then ask users to send some bitcoins to a particular address to be eligible.

A spokeswoman for Capgemini, one of the hijacked accounts, said in a statement,

We are aware that a number of Twitter accounts at various organizations have been impacted by this scam and the Capgemini Australia account was among them. It’s in the process of being restored, and no Capgemini client operations have been adversely impacted,”

Also, it appears that these scammers are buying ads through Twitter to promote tweets to other users.

James P. Lloyd tweeted about the Capgemini hack and said it was being used to promote tweets representing Elon Musk.

Other Twitter users expressed shock that the social network allowed such tweets to continue. Katie Collins tweeted,

One of those promoted fake Elon Musk bitcoin tweets from a verified account just appeared on my timeline. Hey @jack, are you anywhere close to cracking this scam?”

Several Twitter users have been duped by such scams. Recently, @PantheonBooks, one hacked account scammed users of about $180,000 worth of BTC.

In a statement, the spokesperson for Twitter said that impersonation of other users is against the rules of the social network. Also, the social media site has been improving how it handles such cryptocurrency scams.

Twitter believes that the number of fake giveaways and tweets have reduced drastically. In a statement, the spokesperson said,

Scammers are constantly changing their methods, and it’s our job to stay on top of their movements, observe their actions and work to stay one step ahead. In most cases, our enforcement teams are detecting this activity and taking these down before they’re reported,”

Protect your account from scammers 

Users on Twitter can secure their accounts by adding an extra layer of security. The company recommended that users secure their accounts with a two-factor authentication. Also, users can avoid taking part in such unverified scams. It is safer to do some research before taking part in any crypto giveaway.

Princess Ogono is a writer, lawyer and fitness enthusiast. She believes cryptocurrencies are the future. When she's not writing, she spends time with her adorable cat, Ginger and works out often.

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