Another One Bites the Dust: Google Account Hacked in Twitter Bitcoin Scam

Google has become the latest victim of the rampant bitcoin “giveaway” scams proliferating on Twitter.

For a little over ten minutes on Tusesday, the Twitter account of the online search giant’s suite of productivity apps and tools, G Suite, was hacked and used to promote a fraudulent bitcoin giveaway. Initially reported by Hard Fork, the fraudsters dubbed the giveaway the “biggest in the world.”

“Google is giving 10,000 Bitcoin (BTC) to all community! We decided to make the biggest crypto-giveaway in the world! Now you can make payments in Gsuite using cryptocurrency,” the tweet read.
Verification Gimmick

Like other similar Twitter crypto giveaway scams, the fraudsters did not explicitly ask for cryptocurrency but rather asked willing participants to verify their addresses by sending between 0.1 to 2 BTC and get it back multiplied ten times. With cryptocurrency transactions being irreversible, victims cannot, of course, expect to get back their bitcoin if they make the mistake of falling for the scam.

The hacking of G Suite’s Twitter account happened hours after a similar thing occurred to US retail giant Target. The retailer confirmed the incident, indicating that it lost control of its Twitter account for around 30 minutes.

“Early this morning, our Twitter account was inappropriately accessed. The access lasted for approx. half an hour & one fake tweet was posted during that time about a bitcoin scam,” Target said in a tweeted statement, as CCN reported. “We have regained control of the account, are in close contact with Twitter & are investigating now.”

Just like in the case of the G Suite hacking, the scammers hyped their giveaway claiming it was the biggest in the world. The Target giveaway was, however, half of what was being offered in the case of G Suite – 5,000 bitcoins.
Elon Musk Still Bitcoin Scammers’ Favorite Target

Earlier this month, the verified Twitter account of Pathe UK, a film studio based in London, was hacked and started promoting a “Bitcoic (sic)” scam to users while posing as the founder and boss of electric car firm Tesla, Elon Musk.

The film studio was eventually able to get back its account with varying reports emerging of how much the scammers managed to raise. Some reports indicated that the scammers made as much as US$180,000 before the fraudulent tweet, which was running as a paid advertisement on the microblogging platform, was taken down. According to the Telegraph, over 300 people fell victim to the scam.Other reports indicated otherwise, arguing that most of the funds that were traced to the addresses of the scammers probably belonged to the fraudsters.

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