Hackers Rename Twitter Account of Indian Medical Assn. to Elon Musk in a Cryptocurrency Scam

The Twitter accounts of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), and Mann Deshi Mahila Bank (a local bank that supports female micro-entrepreneurs) were hacked on Sunday (January 2). The bad actors renamed the handle “Elon Musk” and initiated a cryptocurrency scam.

The Most Recent Attacks

After carrying out the cyber outbreak, the perpetrators posted many tweets promoting cryptocurrencies. They also changed the name and the profile picture of the Indian Medical Association account with Tesla’s CEO – Elon Musk.

The bad actors shared several tweets claiming to be the business magnate himself and continuously replied to posts from his name.

Experts believe the hacking could be a result of the password being compromised or a malicious link being clicked by the account users.

The Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), whose ex-officio President is the Vice President of India – Venkaiah Naidu, quickly solved the issue. However, malicious tweets are still visible on the other two accounts.

Last month, a similar attack compromised the official Twitter address of the Prime Minister of the country – Narendra Modi. While under the control of the perpetrators, the account published a post of a bitcoin giveaway scam.

The malicious tweet said the second-most populated nation has officially adopted the primary cryptocurrency as a legal tender. In addition, it was declared that the government has bought 500 BTC and “is disturbing them to all residents of the country.”

Twitter and YouTube Attacks Lately

This isn’t the first time the Twitter accounts of well-known organizations or prominent figures have been compromised.

Back in 2020, cybercriminals hacked accounts belonging to Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and several crypto industry executives.

Similar to previous attacks of this type, the perpetrators posted a scam from the name of the hacked individuals asking people to send bitcoin to a certain address. Moreover, they promised to double all BTC funds in a too-good-to-be-true move.

Twitter is not the only platform under the scope of cybercriminals. Not long ago, Apple’s co-founder – Steve Wozniak – initiated a lawsuit against YouTube after numerous scams with his involvement. More specifically, bad actors impersonated the tech entrepreneur and promoted false bitcoin giveaways on the video platform, which targeted countless victims.

Despite his efforts, Wozniak lost the case as, according to Santa Clara Country Superior Court Judge Sunil Kulkarni, his arguments were not strong enough.