Tampa teen accused of being 'mastermind' behind Twitter hack that targeted high-profile accounts

[brooklynite]

Source: WFLA News

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.

...snip...

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.

Read more: https://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/tampa-teen-accused-of-being-mastermind-behind-twitter-hack-that-targeted-high-profile-accounts/

[Beakybird]

1. How old is this kid?

[brooklynite]

2. 17...

[catsudon]

3. wow

i'm surprised it wasn't the chinese or russians

the mugshot of this kid looks ...evil

[skypilot]

13. He's a prick. Clearly.

*

[FM123]

4. Great article, I was just about to post a comment but I just noticed something

Is it just me or is there some weird font mixed in with the text of the article you just posted? This is what I copied and posted....

� A Tampa teenager is in jail, accused of being the �mastermind�

[catsudon]

6. not just you

i noticed it happening since a few hours ago. glad im not going crazy

[FM123]

7. Good to know.

I thought maybe someone slipped a lil somethin in my ginger ale, lol

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. You say "a lil something in my ginger ale" like it's a bad thing.

Cheers!

[FM123]

12. cheers

[Progressive Jones]

15. Same here. nt

[bucolic_frolic]

5. If "scamming people across America" is now a crime

I suggest they charge the greatest scammer.

[keopeli]

8. That's not a mugshot. It looks like a Walmart Employee picture to me.

[iscooterliberally]

9. I guess he's being tried as an adult?

Since when do they post the mugshots and release the names of minors?

[LonePirate]

10. There are a lot of gaps in this story and I am not convinced he acted alone (or at all).

First of all, he's a teenager in Tampa. Supposedly the guilty party used a phishing attack that somehow ensnared a Twitter employee with access to internal Twitter tools to take control of several accounts in order to send the scam messages.

1. How did this 17 yo in Tampa find the Twitter employee (in San Francisco?) with the necessary access to the tools needed to perpetrate the scam? Was it just "luck" or was it a targeted attack on the employee (or other employees and a dumb one took the bait)?

2. When did the attack on the Twitter employee occur relative to the day/time the messages were sent? Was it minutes? Hours? Days? More? The criminal likely would not know how the internal tools worked so he would need time to learn and use them. Maybe that learning curve is not very steep; but he had a specific list of accounts in his attack, with the vast majority of them being from those on the left. Few (none?) of the high profile accounts belonged to people on the right which suggests the hacker(s) had a specific list of targets that weren't simply thought up on the fly. So if there was a large time gap, why didn't Twitter know about it before it was too late?

3. Numerous Twitter accounts were locked for days following the hack, with many of them belonging to relatively obscure politicians or people which I doubt the 17 yo knew much about. Maybe this is part is all on Twitter; but their concern for these less well known people/accounts makes me wonder if there was another reason for the hack besides sending bitcoin scam messages. The hacker had access to DMs, account info and who knows what else that would be worth several to many more zeroes added on to the end of the $100K reaped in bitcoin. The message scam could easily have been a diversion or even planted evidence to hide the real motives behind the hack.

4. It seems almost coincidental that a 17 yo American school kid pulled off something hackers sponsored by governments in numerous world countries could only fantasize about accomplishing. In short, something does not smell right to me, especially since it seems far more likely to me that some other person or entity could have easily hacked this 17 yo's computer and perpetrated the crime from it, leaving a trail of IP addresses and web traffic logs that could easily implicate the 17 yo while leaving the real criminals in the clear.

I'm not saying the 17 yo did not commit these crimes; but the prosecution would need to provide me with far more evidence and a far more airtight case than what was glossed over in the article if I was on the jury for this case. Far too many things are highly suspicious to me.

[LeftInTX]

14. Three arrests: 19 yo and 22 yo also involved

One of them is in the UK, the other also in FL

I think "17 yo mastermind" makes a good headline

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. 19 yr old from Bognor Regis - best known for George V's dying words "bugger Bognor"

A man living in Bognor Regis - on the UK south coast - is one of three individuals charged over a major Twitter hack, according to the US Department of Justice.

Californian authorities filed felony charges against Mason Sheppard, 19.

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) confirmed it had searched a property in Bognor Regis with police on Friday.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53617198

It has a reputation for being boring and full of old people. Well, the dying words are aprocrpyhal:

King George V had become ill, requiring lung surgery to be carried out on 12 December 1928. His recovery was slow and on 22 January 1929 Buckingham Palace issued the statement saying "it has been realised by the King's medical advisers that, prior to the establishment of convalescence, there would arrive a time when sea air would be necessary in order to secure the continuation of His Majesty's progress". The Palace statement went on "with the knowledge, a careful search was made for a "residence" not only suitable in itself but possessing the necessary attributes of close proximity to the sea, southern exposure, protection from wind, privacy and reasonable access to and from London." The residence selected was Craigweil House, Bognor (demolished in 1939) placed at His Majesty's disposal by owner Sir Arthur Du Cros" who was a wealthy businessman, having acquired the house from Dr Stocker who bought it from the Countess of Newburgh who had constructed the building in 1806. The house, technically, was in Aldwick.[5] As a result, the King was asked to bestow the suffix "Regis" ("of the King&quot on "Bognor".[10] The petition was presented to Lord Stamfordham, the King's Private Secretary, who in turn delivered it to the King. King George supposedly replied, "Oh, bugger Bognor." Lord Stamfordham then went back to the petitioners and told them, "the King has been graciously pleased to grant your request."[11]

A slightly different version of the "Bugger Bognor" incident is that the King, upon being told, shortly before his death, that he would soon be well enough to revisit the town, uttered the words "Bugger Bognor!" Although there is little evidence that these words were actually spoken in this context, and although the sea air helped the King to regain his health, it is certain that the King had little regard for the town.[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bognor_Regis#%22Bugger_Bognor%22

[Major Nikon]

17. Florida man

Just throwing that out there