Retailer Target’s Twitter account was hacked earlier today and is actively promoting a Bitcoin scam.

Worse yet, they have taken control of the Target ad account and have paid for promoted tweets which are spreading quickly, with massive engagement:

The tweets take victims to a website (not linked on purpose) which requests them to “confirm” their Bitcoin address by sending 0.2 BTC to 12SRjvqFo8MeZVc2UE9C8JQxkqsASRN9G5

At the time of this writing, the scammers had accrued almost 6 BTC (approx U$ 38,000).

Just before publication Target seems to have reestablished control over the social account and deleted the tweets, but it did not go unnoticed by the community:

Even an official UN account from Serbia believed the scam:

(The Serbian UN account shows just how much good faith people could have towards Bitcoin were this legit. Truly sad.)

Other retailers, such as The Body Shop, also took note (and were skeptical themselves).

There Are no Bitcoin Giveaways

“There’s no such a thing as a free lunch.” – Milton Friedman

No legit account, even if blue tick verified, is “giving away” any valuable cryptocurrency!

Let’s help stop this terrible wave where naive users constantly lose crypto in obvious scams.

Links

Tips to Avoid Giveaway Scams

Crypto ‘Giveaway’ Scams Continue to Flourish on YouTube

Crypto giveaway scams and how to spot them

The fascinating evolution of the Bitcoin giveaway scam on Twitter