A fourth suspect is reportedly being investigated in relation to the massive July Twitter hack that involved a huge bitcoin scam.
Several high profile Twitter accounts were hacked in an elaborate bitcoin fraud on July 15. The hacked accounts soon started to post almost identical messages all boiling down to one message: send us money and I’ll send double the amount back in bitcoin. In the end the scammers got away with about $140,000.
Or at least, they did for a while. In the weeks since, three people have already been charged for allegedly orchestrating the social engineering attack that took control of celebrity accounts as those owned by Kanye West and Bill Gates.
Now, the New York Times has revealed that a fourth individual may be in the authorities’ crosshairs as well.
A 16-year-old from Massachusetts has been issued with a search warrant and had his home searched by federal agents, according to four anonymous sources familiar with the case.
The teenager is reportedly suspected of having been in charge for some of the more complicated aspects of the breach, but has yet to be charged with any crime.
The three people who have previously been charged are 17, 19 and 22.
As we reported at the time, professionals using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, such as crypto exchanges, were worried that the attack may add to the already bad reputation the technology suffers from.
Copyright © 2018 RegTech Analyst
