Florida teen, two others arrested over massive Twitter breach
- The fraudulent scheme hacked Twitter accounts of people like Joe Biden, Bill Gates and Kanye West
- The hacking scheme reaped more than US$100,000 in bitcoin in just one day
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Martin Matishak on politico.com on July 31, 2020.
US authorities have charged a Florida teenager and two others with roles in this month's massive hack of high-profile Twitter accounts, including presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden – an attack that also led to an hourslong blockage that prevented President Donald Trump and other prominent users from posting.
The tweets asked people to send bitcoin contributions to a mysterious address, with promises of doubling them.
The breach sparked a massive outcry from Capitol Hill, with lawmakers demanding the social media giant quickly come clean about the circumstances around the hacking. Several Senate panels, including Intelligence, Commerce and Homeland Security, have been weighing if they should launch their own investigations into the incident.
Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren's office announced Friday that it filed 30 felony charges against Clark this week. Prosecutors said the scheme to defraud “stole the identities of prominent people” and “posted messages in their names directing victims to send bitcoin” to accounts that were associated with the teen.
The scheme reaped more than US$100,000 in bitcoin in just one day.
Twitter says hackers ‘manipulated’ staff to access 130 accounts
“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,” Warren said in a statement. “This massive fraud was orchestrated right here in our backyard, and we will not stand for that.”
“We appreciate the swift actions of law enforcement in this investigation and will continue to cooperate as the case progresses,” the company said. “For our part, we are focused on being transparent and providing updates regularly.”
