Numerous high profile Twitter accounts, including Democratic leader Joe Biden, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, former President Barack Obama, among others, were hacked on Wednesday to run a cryptocurrency scam on their profiles. These profiles have millions of followers on the microblogging site.

The scammers posted a message on these accounts which directed people to a bitcoin wallet address where their money could get doubled.

In the hours following the initial scam posts, Kim Kardashian West, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Wiz Khalifa, Warren Buffett, YouTuber MrBeast, Wendy’s, Uber, CashApp and Mike Bloomberg also posted the cryptocurrency scam, per the Tech Crunch report.

After getting to know of the hacking, Twitter posted a series of tweets that read: “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.”

“We’re continuing to limit the ability to Tweet, reset your password, and some other account functionalities while we look into this. Thanks for your patience,” it added on another tweet.

Before hacking prominent accounts on Twitter, hackers first attacked @bitcoin , @ripple , @coindesk , @coinbase and @binance with the same message: “We have partnered with CryptoForHealth and are giving back 5000 BTC to the community,” followed by a link to a website, which we are not linking to.

Hackers posted a tweet from Apple Inc’s Twitter handle that read: We are giving back to our community. We support Bitcoin and we believe you should too. All bitcoin sent to our address will be sent to you doubled… Only going for the next 30 minutes.”

From Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Twitter handle, scammers posted: “I am feeling generous because of COVID-19. I will double any BTC payment sent to my BTC address. Good luck and stay safe out there.”

Former President Barack Obama’s flashed a tweet stating: “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 $1000, I will send back $2000.” The same message was tweeted from Democrats leader Joe Biden’s account.

Twitter immediately tried to resolve the issue. It said after a few hours: “Most accounts should be able to Tweet again. As we continue working on a fix, this functionality may come and go. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.”

As of 2.04 am IST, the main blockchain address used on the scam site had collected over 12.5 bitcoin — some $116,000 and was going up with each passing minute.

According to Tech Crunch sources, Twitter is yet to figure out how the hacking took place. However, security researchers found that hackers fully accessed the target’s account, changing their email ID so that it would be difficult for them to regain their Twitter handle.

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