Target Crypto Giveaway Scam Plot Thickens as Retail Giant Blames Third-Party App vs Twitter

Twitter has been a hotbed for fraudulent activity in the last few weeks. Scammers have been getting into verified accounts, posting as some kind of giveaway for Bitcoin. Those hackers seem to be careful to not get caught, leaving different Bitcoin awards available with each one. Google and Target were some of the most recent ones hacked, but Target does not see Twitter as the one to blame, according to a recent report from TheNextWeb.

Rather than putting all of the responsibility to Twitter, even though the social media platform has an obligation to their users, Target is crediting a third-party app instead. The original tweet contained a link that led users to a giveaway, just like the others. However, it almost looks like Target had a revelation, based on a change of heart that they expressed in an email to TheNextWeb.

Target switched their story on this tweet, saying that their verified account was never accessed by anyone that was not authorized. Instead, it looked like the attackers went specifically after a marketing vendor that is linked to Target.

The email to TheNextWeb said, “After a thorough investigation with Twitter and our cyber security team, we’ve confirmed that an attacker accessed one of our marketing vendor’s Twitter handles yesterday. This gave the attacker the ability to post an ad on Target’s behalf, and the vendor has since implemented a number of security measures to re-secure their account.”

Continuing, the email emphasized that there was “no inappropriate access, at any point, to Target’s Twitter account.” Still, Target reiterated that they have adopted new security measures and plan to “continue to work with Twitter to ensure Target’s account is secure.” Even with all of these statements, the company is, for some unknown reason, refraining from releasing the name of the vendor that they believe is responsible.

In less than 10 days, there have been hackers infiltrating the verified accounts of government agencies, film studios, and even politicians before they took to Target and Google. It is clear that there is a major issue with the security of these accounts on Twitter, though the social media platform confirmed to TheNextWeb that they are working to remedy this situation. However, they have not made any further comments on the changes since Google’s G Suite account was infiltrated.

Perhaps the biggest irony of this story overall is the single comment that TheNextWeb has below this article about fraudulent giveaways, which is another “get rich quick” scheme posted by a random reader.