It has been a widely-known problem on Twitter for more than a year: bots promoting cryptocurrency “giveaways” by replying to authentic tweets from major influencers with huge followings. The scammers promise free bitcoin or ether. Unfortunately, a significant number of people fall for it.

The scam accounts reply to real tweets from someone like Apple CEO Tim Cook or Tesla CEO Elon Musk, saying something like, “As a thank you to my followers, I’m giving away 500 ETH! Click here!” The scam accounts have the same photo and display name as the real person, and the replies nest right beneath the real tweet, so it appears as though the real person replied to their own tweet.

And now they’re doing it to President Trump.

On Wednesday, Twitter users took notice of numerous replies to Trump tweets coming from the verified account of a British rugby player named Joe Joyce (@JoeJoyce2). The account had changed its photo and display name to match Trump’s, and it was replying to Trump tweets with crypto giveaway links. Joyce has since regained control of his account.

A hacked Twitter account belonging to a British rugby player promotes a crypto scam on Aug. 1, 2018. (screenshot) More

Separately, many noticed another Trump-related Twitter crypto scam happening on Wednesday, slightly different from the usual crypto scam format: replies to Trump tweets coming from verified accounts, including the band Bad Religion (@badreligion), the singer Cupid (@NEWCUPID), and even the official account of the Fed Cup women’s tennis tournament (@FedCup). All of the accounts were clearly hacked. One week earlier, the same thing happened to NBA player Monte Morris (@MonteMorris11).

These crypto scams on Twitter have become so prevalent and recognizable that scores of cryptocurrency enthusiasts have added “not giving away ETH” to their Twitter display names as an inside joke.

President Donald Trump at a news conference in the White House on July 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) More