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Huge Twitter Hack Hits Accounts of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Obama, More

The hackers have been taking over the accounts to encourage the public to donate Bitcoin to a digital wallet, which has collected over $110,000 in funds.

Michael Kan
 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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The official Twitter accounts of several high-profile users—including Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Joe Biden—were all briefly hacked today to promote a Bitcoin scam. 

Late this afternoon, Twitter accounts belonging to several cryptocurrency platforms—including Coinbase, Gemini, and Binance—were briefly taken over to encourage users to donate Bitcoin to a digital wallet. 

The mysterious culprits then took over the accounts of numerous celebrities, including Barack Obama, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Kanye West, to further promote the scam. “I am giving back to my community due to Covid-19! All Bitcoin sent to my address below will be sent back doubled. If you send $1,000, I will send back $2,000!” the tweets read. 

the scam tweet from Joe Biden. the scam tweet from Wiz Khalifa (Images: Twitter screenshots)

Accounts belonging to Apple and Uber were also hijacked to encourage users to donate to the same digital wallet, which has received dozens of transactions since the scam began. In total, the wallet has accumulated over 12 bitcoin or $110,690.

In response, Twitter tweeted at 5:45 p.m. ET: “We are aware of a security incident impacting accounts on Twitter. We are investigating and taking steps to fix it. We will update everyone shortly."

In the meantime, the widespread hacking is raising speculation that a login system at Twitter or a third-party provider contains a vulnerability, which the mysterious culprits are exploiting. The attackers appear to be going back to certain accounts to post the message again; it's appeared on Elon Musk's feed multiple times, for example.

Tyler Winklevoss, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, said the hackers were able to breach its Twitter account, despite having the two-factor authentication enabled.

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About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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