Security News > 2021 > March > Teen hacker agrees to 3 years in prison for Twitter Bitcoin scam
A Florida teenager has pleaded guilty to fraud charges after coordinating the hack of high-profile Twitter accounts to run a cryptocurrency scam that collected roughly $120,000 worth of bitcoins.
Graham Ivan Clark was charged last year as an adult in July 2020, he turned 18 in January 2021, as the first suspect and the one who orchestrated last year's Twitter hack.
Using credentials of Twitter employees with access to internal support tools, they targeted 130 high-profile accounts, accessing the direct messages of 36, eventually downloading the Twitter Data for seven accounts.
The Twitter accounts of tech companies, crypto exchanges, tech executives, celebrities, and politicians were some of the 130 used by the hackers to promote their Bitcoin scam.
Clark agreed on Tuesday to be sentenced as a youthful offender to three years in prison, followed by three years of probation.
"The seven-and-a-half months Clark has already spent behind bars will be applied toward his three years of incarceration," according to a press release from the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office.