Apple's Twitter account has been breached by bitcoin scammers who have also hacked the Twitter accounts of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and more.
Apple users should be careful not to believe the fake tweet, which is a scam to collect bitcoin. Twitter has been deleting the fake tweets, but the scammers who have breached the accounts have been repeatedly posting them.
The tweet that was posted on the Apple Twitter account has since been deleted. Given the number of high profile accounts that have been breached, the hack may have originated from a Twitter security vulnerability.
Apple does not actually use its official Apple Twitter account on the platform, reserving it for sending out reminders ahead of events and advertisements.
Update: Twitter says that it's looking into the security breach and will provide an update after implementing a fix.
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. — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 15, 2020
Update 2: Twitter appears to have disabled all tweets from verified accounts, so no one with a verified account is able to tweet at this time.
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. — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 15, 2020
Update 3: Most verified Twitter accounts are now once again able to tweet. Twitter is still working on fully fixing the issue.
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. — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 16, 2020