We have seen many incidents where social media accounts were hacked to trap victims. However, today the situation is different. In the latest incident, attackers tried to lure victims through the column of a well-known writer named Hasan Cemal on his news website. The article, claiming “Erdoğan is distributing Bitcoin,” was a classic hacker bait.
Erdoğan is Not Distributing Bitcoin
The latest article published in Hasan Cemal’s column on T24, which remained there for a long time, was titled “Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is giving away Bitcoin for the next 24 hours!” The attackers claimed that the President of Turkey would return double the amount of BTC sent to the specified address, a tactic they have used many times before.
The article, published at night in Turkey, mentioned that assets sent ranging from 1,000 TL to 1 million TL would be returned double, and the attackers’ address was included in the article.
When the wallet address shared by the attackers was checked, fortunately, no one fell for this trap. The fact that it was night and the content (crypto, blockchain, etc.) was not in line with the writer’s usual style made readers skeptical.
Social Media Scammers
If someone tells you to send Y amount of BTC or ETH to X address and you will get double in return, they will steal your Y amount of assets. This method is also done through live broadcasts after hacking YouTube accounts. For example, a channel with 1 million subscribers is hacked, and it is claimed that Elon Musk and Saylor are speaking live. Footage from a past event is looped continuously.
Viewers believe the person in the video is actually live, while the screen shows messages like “Elon Musk will return double the DOGE sent to this address within 1 hour.” Attackers, who have obtained large bounties with this method, have now adopted a new style and are targeting columnists.
Remember that all accounts, including Elon Musk’s, can be hacked, and such outrageous promises are shared by scammers. The primary goal of attackers using different methods is to excite victims and trigger their urge to make easy money. If you see offers that sound too good to be true, remind yourself that they are not real.
