Security News > 2020 > October > NFL, NBA Players Hacked in Would-Be Cyber-Slam-Dunk
NFL and NBA athletes whose social-media accounts were taken over have been thrown the ball of justice.
Federal prosecutors alleged that between December 2017 and April 2019, Washington and Magrehbi actively took part in illegal schemes to gain access to social media and other personal online accounts of the players.
Magrehbi is alleged to have obtained access to accounts belonging to one professional football player, including an Instagram account and personal email account.
Even though the player sent funds on at least one occasion, portions of which were transferred to a personal bank account controlled by Magrehbi - he was double-crossed and the athlete never regained access, prosecutors said.
Account takeovers of high-profile accounts have been in the news lately, after hackers "Mislead certain employees" to gain access to internal tools at Twitter to take over celebrity and company handles and push out a Bitcoin scam.