Cryptocurrency thieves are using verified profiles to scam and Twitter is not helping

Here is why you should never readily trust anyone on Twitter – even those with blue badges. A shifty user has leveraged his verified profile to impersonate high-profile cryptocurrency influencers and scam people.

The malicious individual was busted using the verified @Protafield handle to trick naive users into sending over Ethereum – a new tactic which has been running rampant in the blockchain space as of recently.

The twitter user @Protafield has been pretending to be Bitfinex and asking people to send over ETH. Indeed, one of the tweets from the profile reads “Send from 0.5 to 5 ETH to the address below and get from 5 to 50 ETH back!”

As per Etherscan , the associated address has received more than 31 ETH at the time of writing.

Before Bitfinex, the user was reportedly pretending to be Justin Sun, founder of Tron Foundation .

This is not the first time these fraudulent attempts are being made in the cryptocurrency space.

In fact, TRON Foundation itself had suffered another phishing attack in a similar fashion earlier in February. Hackers were able to hijack a verified Twitter account and change its handle to @TronfoundationI to clone the real @Tronfoundation.

Among others, Binance was also one of the victims of this verified-account phishing attacks.

Twitter says that changing one’s username should result in losing the verified-profile privilege. If this feature worked as described though, these scams shouldn’t have been possible.

Concerned users brought the phishing scam to the attention of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey back in late-February.The Twitter chief confirmed the bug and assured the company is working on a solution.

Despite these promises though, it is quite clear that the micro-blogging service has yet to deploy a fix for this bug. And given the wild volume of scams in the cryptocurrency space, Twitter better act quick.

We’ve contacted Twitter for further comment and will update this piece if we hear back.

Bitcoin soars past $9,600, could hit $10,000 before 2017 is out

The value of the world’s premier cryptocurrency is steadily on the rise: after crossing $9,000 at 06:40 GMT on November 26, it’s already inched past $9,600 as of 05:07 GMT on November 27, the time of writing today.

Bitcoin made the news earlier this month when it hit a record valuation of $7,300 for the first time; Goldman Sachs vice president Sheba Jafari noted in a letter to investors in the first week of November that the currency could soon cross $8,000 – double the price of $4,000 that she predicted just four months prior.

With that, it’s possible that Bitcoin – whose market cap is presently at a whopping $161.7 billion – might well hit $10,000 before the new year. Venture capitalist Tim Draper predicted it would reach that figure by 2018 roughly three years ago, and it seems like he might well be on the money if the currency continues to surge as it has been all through this month.

Rival currency Ethereum has also seen a bump today, rising 3.35 percent to $486, after crossing $400 for the first time since June. It’s expected to hit $500 before the year is out. If you’re investing in cryptocurrencies, now’s a good time to have your head in the game.

Samsung is reportedly manufacturing cryptocurrency mining hardware

Samsung could be the latest technology giant to hop onto the blockchain wagon. The company has reportedly begun manufacturing ASIC ( application-specific integrated circuit) hardware specialized for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining.

The deal will see Samsung supply an unnamed Chinese mining equipment provider with the necessary hardware starting from January, according to a report (in Korean) from South Korean outlet The Bell . The Chinese-based partner will then distribute the chips.

The report further states that the tech titan is ready to start mass production by the end of January. Its main involvement in this collaboration will be as a foundry operator.

While the move might come across as unexpected, the South Korean behemoth has previously shown interest in entering the blockchain hardware space.

Indeed, Samsung showcased a concept for an experimental “upcycling” mining rig that was built out of 40 old Galaxy S5 phones back in October last year. A couple of months later, the company reportedly signed an agreement with Russian-based Bitcoin mining hardware firm Baikal that would see Samsung supply them with ASIC chips.

This development could certainly stir up the mining hardware space and encourage competitors Canaan Creative and Bitmain (both of which get their chips from Taiwan’s TSMC ) to step up their efforts.

Meanwhile, Samsung is hardly the only company seeking to make its foray into the mining hardware industry. Earlier in January, Kodak revealed its own mining contraption – though the reception was mixed, to say the least.

We’ve reached out to Samsung for further comment and will update this piece accordingly should we hear back.