17-Year-Old Found To Be The Mastermind Of Recent Twitter Bitcoin Scam

A 17-year-old in Florida was found to be among the hackers behind the bitcoin scam that targeted several high-profile Twitter accounts, including those of Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and Elon Musk.

Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren said on Friday that the teen had been arrested and charged. Since he is still a minor, his identity and name are not revealed.

The attorney office said the minor was the mastermind of this whole scandal.

In a statement, Warren said the hackers took over accounts of celebrities but they weren’t the main targets. What the culprits really wanted was the money of regular Americans.

30 felony charges were filed against the minor. Some of them are communications fraud, organized fraud, and fraudulent use of personal information.

On Friday, the Department of Justice said two adults were also charged - 22-year-old Nima Fazeli, or “Rolex,” from Orlando, Florida, and 19-year-old Mason Sheppard.

According to the attorney office, the scam brought the criminals over $100,000 worth of bitcoin.

On Thursday, Twitter updated the situation in a blog post. According to the social media platform, the hackers used a phone spear-phishing attack to target some of the company's employees. The attackers needed some of the company’s employee credentials and access to its internal tools.

While not all of the targeted employees have access to account management tools, the attackers used their credentials to gain access to the internal system and learned how it works.

>>> Elon Musk, Apple, Bill Gates And Other Popular Twitter Accounts Hacked In Bitcoin Scam