Major Twitter Accounts Hacked by Bitcoin Scammers

(CN) — Hackers gained access to major accounts on Twitter on Wednesday, causing the company’s stock to dive as calls increase for the site to shut down until the company can get a handle on the security situation. 

Accounts belonging to Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Barack Obama and a slew of companies showed signs of being compromised on Wednesday afternoon.

The accounts directed people to donate to a bitcoin scheme, which has reaped more than $100,000 as part of the apparent scam. 

“I am giving back to the community,” read one tweet from Bezos’s verified account. “All bitcoin sent to my account will be sent back doubled.”

Bezos is the founder of Amazon and the world’s richest person. 

“We are aware of a security incident impacting accounts on Twitter,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon. “We are investigating and taking steps to fix it. We will update everyone shortly.”

Twitter stock was down approximately 5% in after-hours trading. 

The Joe Biden campaign confirmed the presidential candidate’s account was hacked. 

"Twitter locked down the account immediately following the breach and removed the related tweet,” the Biden campaign said. “We remain in touch with Twitter on the matter."

The security breach raised major questions for the company as world leaders like Donald Trump often communicate official national policy via Twitter, meaning hackers could presumably start wars or destabilize geopolitical conditions if they are able to gain access to certain accounts.

“This mass twitter hack should worry everyone because there is one account on here (you know the one) that could end us all with the wrong tweet,” wrote Jon Stokes, founder of Ars Technica, on Wednesday. “That account should announce it's backing off the platform entirely until this is sorted.”

Twitter has promised to ramp up its security measures, particularly after its founder Jack Dorsey was the victim of a hack last year. Twitter said that the hack was not related to its platform specifically, but said Dorsey had a mobile platform with faulty security that allowed hackers access to his account. 

Follow @@MatthewCRenda

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