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Twitter Hack: Florida Teenager Arrested

Published

4 years ago

July 31, 2020

A teenager in Florida has been arrested over a major Twitter hack in July, according to the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office.

On 15 July, Twitter accounts of multiple high-profile US figures were hijacked in an apparent Bitcoin scam..

Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren has filed 30 felony charges against the teenager for “scamming people across America”.

The charges include organised fraud and fraudulent use of personal information.

The attack saw high-profile accounts such as Elon Musk, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden, former US President Barack Obama and reality star Kim Kardashian West falsely tweet out requests for Bitcoin donations.

“As a cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is difficult to track and recover if stolen in a scam,” Mr Warren said in a statement.

“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.”