Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack that targeted high-profile accounts
Tampa teen accused of being
‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack that targeted high-profile accounts
Posted: Jul 31, 2020 / 01:59
PM EDT / Updated: Jul 31, 2020 / 03:45 PM EDT
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A Tampa
teenager is in jail, accused of being the “mastermind” behind a hack on the social media website Twitter that caused
limited access to the site and high-profile accounts, according to jail records
and the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office.
8 On Your Side’s Ryan Hughes
received exclusive information about the arrest of 17-year-old Graham Clark.
Hillsborough State Attorney
Andrew Warren filed 30 felony charges against the teen this week for “scamming
people across America” in connection with the Twitter hack that happened on July 15. The charges he’s facing include one
count of organized fraud, 17 counts of communications fraud, one count of
fraudulent use of personal information with over $100,000 or 30 or more
victims, 10 counts of fraudulent use of personal information and one count of
access to computer or electronic device without authority.
Hillsborough County Jail
records show Clark was booked into jail shortly after 6:30 a.m. Friday.
Warren’s office says the
scheme to defraud “stole the identities of prominent people” and “posted
messages in their names directing victims to send Bitcoin” to accounts that
were associated with the Tampa teen. According to the state attorney, the
scheme reaped more than $100,000 in Bitcoin in just one day.
“As a cryptocurrency, Bitcoin
is difficult to track and recover if stolen in a scam,” the state attorney’s
office says.
Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Jeff
Bezos and Elon Musk were just some of the names who were impacted by the hack.
Twitter officials recently said that it had limited access to its internal
tools after the high-profile hack.
“These crimes were
perpetrated using the names of famous people and celebrities, but they’re not
the primary victims here. This ‘Bit-Con’ was designed to steal money from
regular Americans from all over the country, including here in Florida,” Warren
said in a statement. “This massive fraud was orchestrated right here in our
backyard, and we will not stand for that.”
According to the state
attorney’s office, the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice found the suspect
behind the attack in Hillsborough County after a “complex, nationwide
investigation.”
According to the U.S.
Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California, Clark is one of three
people charged for their alleged roles in the Twitter hack. The two other
suspects were identified as 22-year-old Nima Fazeli, a.k.a. “Rolex,” of Orlando
and 19-year-old Mason Sheppard, a.k.a. “Chaewon,” of the United Kingdom.
“I want to congratulate our
federal law enforcement partners – the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern
District of California, the FBI, the IRS, and the Secret Service – as well as
the Florida Department of Law enforcement. They worked quickly to investigate
and identify the perpetrator of a sophisticated and extensive fraud,” State
Attorney Warren said in his statement.
Warren added that Clark will
be prosecuted in Hillsborough County because “this defendant lives here in
Tampa” and “he committed the crime here.”
Twitter released a statement
shortly after the arrest thanking law enforcement for their work.
“We appreciate the swift
actions of law enforcement in this investigation and will continue to cooperate
as the case progresses,” the company said. “For our part, we are focused on
being transparent and providing updates regularly.”
The day after the hack, White
House officials were concerned about President Donald Trump’s Twitter account,
which he uses daily to push out news and other information. They assured the
public that his account has extra protections.
Florida’s Chief Financial
Officer also voiced his concern that similar hacks could target Florida’s economy and elections.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement was called on to help investigate the
breach.
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