Former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden are among the high-profile Twitter users whose accounts were hacked in a bitcoin scam Wednesday, according to a report.
The cyber attack, which also compromised the accounts of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, is believed to be the largest security breach ever on Twitter, the Hill reported Wednesday.
The accounts posted similar messages offering to double bitcoin payments and included the address of the same bitcoin wallet, which saw up to $112,000 pour in over several hours Wednesday. It is unclear if the money came from unsuspecting users or the hackers, the outlet said.
“Feeling greatful (sic), doubling all payments sent to my BTC address!,” the since-deleted tweets said. “You send $1,000, I send back $2,000! Only doing this for the next 30 minutes.”
The tweets were quickly deleted but were likely viewed widely because of the large number of followers on the accounts.
“We are aware of a security incident impacting accounts on Twitter,” the company said online shortly after 6 p.m. “We are investigating and taking steps to fix it. We will update everyone shortly.”
“You may be unable to Tweet or reset your password while we review and address this incident.”
Other celebrities whose accounts posted similar messages include Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, rapper Whiz Khalifa, Warren Buffet, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.