The Twitter accounts of major celebrities and companies have been hacked asking for Bitcoin. Accounts include the likes of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Apple and many major crypto exchanges.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still sweeping across the globe, especially in the US, where more and more new cases are appearing every day. While the focus should be on everyone’s health and safety, this doesn’t stop scammers from taking advantage of the situation. Earlier today, a handful of celebrity accounts put out tweets today with a very obvious Bitcoin scam.

While this scam is something we have definitely seen before, this wave in particular is somewhat unique. Usually, tweets like this come from Twitter accounts claiming to be a particular celebrity. Checking to see if the account name has a blue check next to it is a clear indicator if the account is verified or not. If there’s no blue check, then the tweet is not legit. However, today’s batch of tweets came from each celebrities’ and corporations’ official accounts.

Almost all of the tweets are identical. They claim that the certain celebrity or company will double any payment made to the Bitcoin address provided. For example, sending 1 BTC will result in getting 2 BTC in return. The tweets have been shared thousands of times. According to Blockchain.com, over $50,000 worth of Bitcoin has already been sent (ahem, stolen) to the addresses sent from Elon Musk and Bill Gates.

How to detect a crypto scam

Twitter has eventually caught on and is temporarily blocking all tweets from the hacked accounts. Hopefully this mitigates some of the inevitable damage this will do to Twitter, the cryptocurrency community and the pockets of those who fell for the scam. 

Cryptocurrency scams have been around for what it seems like a lifetime. Here are some tips to avoid losing some of your sweet, sweet token:

• Never send any crypto to anyone you do not personally know.
• Only send crypto to companies who are legitimate and have a good reputation.
• Major corporations, organizations, government offices will never ask you to make payments in Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.
• If the offer sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.

Oh, and did we mention?

Keep your crypto off exchanges and in cold storage. The CoolWallet S is a great option for those who want the convenience of a hot wallet with the security of a hardware wallet. 

Stay safe out there, friends.