The authorities apprehended a 17-year-old Florida teenager who is behind the full-scale Twitter hack on 15th June. Accounts of many high profiles hacked by these individuals to steal Bitcoins. Former President Barack Obama, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft CO-Founder Bill Gates, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are in the list of high profile accounts. Celebrities Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s accounts also affected by the Twitter hack.
17-year-old ‘Mastermind’ behind Twitter Hack
Many believed this was a coordinated attack by professionals. However, it turned out to be a work of a 17-year graduate from high school. Graham Ivan Clark the ‘Mastermind’ behind the attack arrested on Friday. He lived by himself at his apartment in Tampa. The Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office will prosecute him considering as an adult. According to the press, Graham will face 30 felony charges.
Tweets from the hacked accounts offered to send $2000 for every $1000 sent to given anonymous Bitcoin (BTC) address. This doubler scam managed to net around $120,000 worth of Bitcoins through the Twitter hack. Graham has received aid from two other individuals named Mason John Sheppard (19) of the UK and Nima Fazeli (22) of Orlando, Fla. This attack also revealed that 1,000 individuals received access to an internal tool in Twitter where they got ‘God Mode’ powers. Many believe that Graham received help from an insider named ‘Kirk.’ This insider allegedly sold the ‘God Mode’ tool to various hackers.
Getting Caught
The ‘Mastermind’ behind the Twitter hack skilled enough to go overlooked by Twitter’s security network. However, his plan quickly fell apart according to the court documents. They left clues and traces of their identity in the process of hiding the money as the news made it into the public. These actions lead law enforcement to trace the hackers sooner though sometimes cryptocurrency-based hacks go mostly untraceable.
After the arrest of Graham, the Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren told the press (the local Florida news outlet WFLA) that ‘massive fraud orchestrated right here in our backyard, and we will not stand for that.’ Clark will face charges like fraudulent use of personal information, organized fraud charges, and the excessive amount of communication fraud charges too.
“These crimes perpetrated using the names of famous people and celebrities, but they’re not the primary victims here. This ‘Bit-Con’ designed to steal money from regular Americans from all over the country, including here in Florida,” Warren stressed to the press.
