Hackers hijacked the Twitter account of a major supermarket in the UK, Tesco, and used it to promote a bitcoin scam while posing as Bill Gates and trying to get users to send them Bitcoin.
Bleeping Computer reports that the hackers compromised Tesco’s official Twitter account, which has over 540,000 followers. The hackers started urging users to send them over BTC, purportedly to celebrate Bitcoin’s price rise, promising to double their money.
They changed the handle to @Billgatesmsc and replaced its profile picture with Bill Gate’s, before continuing their bitcoin scam attempt. While no customers appear to have fallen for the scam, Tesco briefly lost its verified status on Twitter over the ordeal.
The hackers also replied to some Tesco customers, requesting personal information such as full names, addresses, postcodes, and more while still impersonating Bill Gates. Tesco’s customers realized something was amiss, and it’s believed no one fell for the requests.
Tesco has regained control of its Twitter account, which has gotten its verified badge back. It’s unclear how the hackers managed to compromise the supermarket’s account, and the firm hasn’t issued any statements on it.