Hacked Target's Twitter account used in Bitcoin mining scam

Bitcoin mining scam strikes again: Target's Twitter account hacked

Target's Twitter account hacked and used in Bitcoin scam

It seems that scammers found a new way to trick their victims – they have started hacking famous accounts to mislead potential victims into falling for Bitcoin scams and similar trickeries. After hearing numerous reports about the highly suspicious activity of Elon Musk's Twitter account,^[1] it seems that there is yet another victim involved into the same scam – the famous department store retailer called Target.

According to reports, scammers hacked Target's Twitter account and posted a Tweet with the misleading link.^[2] The post was promising 5000 BTC prize just by participating in the giveaway. Having in mind that the company has more than 2 million followers on Twitter alone, this Bitcoin scam could have tricked numerous people from the US and other countries. It is still unknown whether the link was used to collect personal information or infect victims with malware.

The Target company has already given its comment on this incident and assured that all tweets with questionable links and other content had been deleted on time and the account has been locked until the investigation is completed.^[3] In its official report, Target stated:

Early this morning, Target’s Twitter account was inappropriately accessed. The access lasted for approximately half an hour and one fake tweet was posted during that time about a bitcoin scam.

Scammers released various tweets with the link

No matter that the account was hacked only for several hours or so, in that time hackers managed to generate a misleading tweet. The most important part is that the post contained a link which was approved by Twitter as an advertisement and, in this way, could reach even more potential victims.^[4] Twitter representatives haven't commented on the issue.

The link provided in the post poses as a survey or similar form of the questionnaire. By clicking it, there is a risk of revealing personal information to hackers. However, as the Elon Musk's account hack revealed, the victim can also be involved in the scam asking for Bitcoin payment and promising to send a bigger amount back. In this case, while Musk's Twitter was controlled by hackers, people send them almost 40000 dollars.

The scams involving Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are on the rise

The incidents with Target and Elon Musk are not the only ones. Each day, various influencers or celebrities have their accounts hacked and used in the same pattern. However, this type of scam is not the main campaign used in the cybersecurity world.

Since the beginning of this year, the Internet community has been suffering from ransomware viruses. In this case, hackers encrypt users' data and demand a payment, usually in BTC, for recovering encrypted files. Having in mind that victims cannot use their important files, there is no surprise that hackers receive what they are aiming for.

Cryptomining malware is yet another issue bothering users worldwide which has already received the most popular and the most dangerous cyber threat title.^[5] Cryptojacking malware is a virus that can infect the system without your knowledge and run various processes in the background while using the PC's resources for mining cryptocurrency or stealing it from the victim's wallet. This is a quicker way to make the profit and doesn't require the direct contact with the victim.