Target’s verified Twitter account hacked

Retailer Target’s Twitter account was hacked earlier today and is actively promoting a Bitcoin scam.

Worse yet, they have taken control of the Target ad account and have paid for promoted tweets which are spreading quickly, with massive engagement:

The tweets take victims to a website (not linked on purpose) which requests them to “confirm” their Bitcoin address by sending 0.2 BTC to 12SRjvqFo8MeZVc2UE9C8JQxkqsASRN9G5

At the time of this writing, the scammers had accrued almost 6 BTC (approx U$ 38,000).

Just before publication Target seems to have reestablished control over the social account and deleted the tweets, but it did not go unnoticed by the community:

Yay, another blue tick hacked account with the bitcoin nonsense on it. This time it’s Target. If only Twitter had some way of identifying content and automatically shadowbanning accounts …in the way we did on Freeads in 2003

— Philip Bragg (@synx508) November 13, 2018

Has @Target been hacked!? #bitcoin pic.twitter.com/pyuDqcStab

— Solly De Silva (@sollyDe) November 13, 2018

Even an official UN account from Serbia believed the scam:

Great innovation, now I can pay for my purchases using Bitcoin, thank you https://t.co/NWxgdqNDlg!

— UNHCR Serbia (@UNHCRSerbia) November 13, 2018

(The Serbian UN account shows just how much good faith people could have towards Bitcoin were this legit. Truly sad.)

It seems that ⁦@Target⁩ twitter account has been compromised and is being used to promote some kind of bitcoin scam. Embarrassing for Target USA pic.twitter.com/YiTRLSm69j

— Robert Merkel (@rgmerk) November 13, 2018

@jack @TwitterSupport @Twitter how can so many blue checks get verified for a promoted scam ? Now Target is giving away #BTC if you send #bitcoin ! Suspend all accounts here with blue checks , thx

— 21_Million (@21_Million) November 13, 2018

Other retailers, such as The Body Shop, also took note (and were skeptical themselves).

“lol” – said The Body Shop, doubting the legitimacy of the wholesale-crypto-cartel pic.twitter.com/SLvKVlirsg

— Janne Pelkonen (@jayplk) November 13, 2018

There Are NO Bitcoin Giveaways

“There’s no such a thing as a free lunch.” – Milton Friedman

No legit account, even if blue tick verified, is “giving away” any valuable cryptocurrency!

Let’s help stop this terrible wave, where naive users constantly lose crypto in obvious scams.

Links

Tips to Avoid Giveaway Scams

Crypto ‘Giveaway’ Scams Continue to Flourish on YouTube

Crypto giveaway scams and how to spot them

The fascinating evolution of the Bitcoin giveaway scam on Twitter