Shares of Twitter (TWTR) were sliding in after-hours trading following reports that many prominent accounts on its platform were hacked to tweet out messages relating to an apparent bitcoin-related scam. The Verge initially reported that the accounts of Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates were compromised this afternoon, with Musk tweeting, “I’m feeling generous because of Covid-19. I’ll double any BTC payment sent to my BTC address for the next hour. Good luck, and stay safe out there!” while Gates’ account said, “I am doubling all payments sent to my BTC address for the next 30 minutes. You send $1,000, I send you back $2,000.” Both accounts included an identical bitcoin wallet address. The Verge added that Square’s (SQ) Cash App account also appeared to have been hacked. Later, CNBC reported that hackers appear to have targeted the accounts of Apple (AAPL), Uber (UBER), and Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos, as well as several crypto-currency related companies in an apparent bitcoin-related scam. CNBC added later that the accounts of Kanye West, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former VP and current Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden all posted messages about the scam. According to CNBC, Twitter said it is looking into the matter. The Fly notes that the Twitter account of Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK.A) Warren Buffett was also compromised, with the account issuing the same bitcoin message. In after-hours trading, shares of Twitter are down roughly 4%.
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