Hackers Get $100,000 Through Obama, Elon Musk, Others' Twitter Accounts

It has been revealed that the attack on Twitter accounts of notable names last week, generated $100,000 worth of cryptocurrency for the hackers. The unknown hackers had solicited for cryptocurrency through the Twitter accounts of the likes of former United States President, Barack Obama.

AllNews had reported the Twitter accounts of many prominent politicians and individuals were hacked. The hackers requested for donation to a course, and unsuspecting followers contributed to the fund - it was later discovered that the request was made by hackers.

The tweets sent by the hackers told users to send $1,000 in bitcoin in 30 minutes so they can get back twice what they sent. Obama, Tesla boss, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Kanye West, and Uber were among prominent names whose accounts were used in defrauding the public.

According to Twitter 130 accounts were targeted, but the hackers were able to reset passwords of about 45 accounts, controlling them and retweet with them. Aside from the funds, thee hackers were also able to access personal information; phone numbers and email addresses.

"In cases where an account was taken over by the attacker, they may have been able to view additional information,” Twitter said.

In a report by AllNews, Twitter Chief Executive Officer and founder, Jack Dorsey said, "Tough day for us at Twitter." He added, “We all feel terrible this happened. We’re diagnosing and will share everything we can when we have a more complete understanding of exactly what happened.”

"We are aware of a security incident impacting accounts on Twitter. We are investigating and taking steps to fix it. We will update everyone shortly." Dorsey also stated that, "As we continue working on a fix, this functionality may come and go. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.”