Suspected of being the mastermind of the spectacular pirating of celebrity accounts on Twitter in mid-July, a 17-year-old young man was indicted on Friday July 31 in Florida, a judicial source has learned. "This massive fraud was orchestrated right here in our backyard," prosecutor Andrew Warren lamented in a statement. Two other people were also charged.

The young man, Graham Ivan Clark, arrested in Tampa (Florida) early Friday, is accused of impersonating personalities, including former President Barack Obama and Tesla boss Elon Musk.

45 accounts hacked, more than $ 100,000 in bitcoins collected

"He posted messages on their behalf, asking victims to send bitcoins (a cryptocurrency) and thus collected more than $ 100,000 in bitcoins in a single day," the prosecutor's statement details.

Graham Ivan Clark is charged with fraud relating to communications and the use of personal information.

"He lives here in Tampa, he committed the crime here and he will be tried here," added Andrew Warren, adding that Florida law allows both minors and adults to be charged with financial fraud "in a case like this. here, when appropriate ".

Twitter said the attack also targeted a handful of employees with a phone phishing operation to obtain their credentials.

Of 130 targeted accounts, 45 were hacked, including those of politicians like Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama and big bosses like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla boss Elon Musk , or Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.

With AFP

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