Recently, a twitter user
extorted into relinquishing his twitter user name. To give up your
well-established twitter user name is bad enough, but this one was
apparently worth $50,000. The Twitter user is claiming to have been
offered $50,000 for the username in the past. The user name in question
is @N.
People apparently tried to steal that user name all the time, as short twitter handles are desirable it appears. The twitter handle was stolen via an extortion process from the rightful owner thanks to information released by PayPal and GoDaddy . The Twitter user says that he had received a text message from PayPal that someone tried to change his password and then an email from GoDaddy on the very same day.
He had ignored the PayPal text, but the GoDaddy message was an actual confirmation of an account change. He was unable to log into his GoDaddy account to change the information back because the last six digits of the credit card on file had already been altered, thereby giving him no way to prove he was or was not, the real owner of the account.
Then the hacker contacted @N and told him it was the Twitter account that he wanted. The deal was that the hacker would leave the website data on the GoDaddy servers alone if @N would allow the hacker to take over the twitter account. In a bizarre twist, the hacker offered to help the mark secure his accounts afterwards?.
The hacker say that he was capable enough to get the last four digits of the credit card used for the GoDaddy account by using “very simple engineering tactics” on PayPal to receive the last four digits of the card. He then called GoDaddy and told them he lost the card, but remembered the last four digits. Worryingly, the hacker says that GoDaddy sanctioned him to guess until he got the first two digits of the card correct!. The mystery of the @N account continues.
People apparently tried to steal that user name all the time, as short twitter handles are desirable it appears. The twitter handle was stolen via an extortion process from the rightful owner thanks to information released by PayPal and GoDaddy . The Twitter user says that he had received a text message from PayPal that someone tried to change his password and then an email from GoDaddy on the very same day.
He had ignored the PayPal text, but the GoDaddy message was an actual confirmation of an account change. He was unable to log into his GoDaddy account to change the information back because the last six digits of the credit card on file had already been altered, thereby giving him no way to prove he was or was not, the real owner of the account.
Then the hacker contacted @N and told him it was the Twitter account that he wanted. The deal was that the hacker would leave the website data on the GoDaddy servers alone if @N would allow the hacker to take over the twitter account. In a bizarre twist, the hacker offered to help the mark secure his accounts afterwards?.
The hacker say that he was capable enough to get the last four digits of the credit card used for the GoDaddy account by using “very simple engineering tactics” on PayPal to receive the last four digits of the card. He then called GoDaddy and told them he lost the card, but remembered the last four digits. Worryingly, the hacker says that GoDaddy sanctioned him to guess until he got the first two digits of the card correct!. The mystery of the @N account continues.
