Cryptocurrency Scammers Deface Trump’s Campaign Website 

Cryptocurrency hackers and criminals are still very much in play. With the General Elections inching ever so close, they appear to be gunning for the leader of the free world next. Earlier this week, hackers managed to sabotage the website for the Donald Trump re-election campaign, asking users to donate cryptocurrencies in a bid to expose the sitting President.

The President is a Liar

As sources show, the hack occurred on Tuesday afternoon. Trump’s campaign website displayed a fake FBI logo along with comments proclaiming that the hackers had “seized” the site. As part of the message, the hackers blamed the sitting President for misinformation. They added that they had gained access to the President’s private communications and now had evidence of wrongdoing from his family and cabinet members. Albeit without proof, the hackers accused President Trump of involvement in the coronavirus outbreak. 

They also alleged that the President had conspired with foreign elements to interfere with the 2020 elections. Before they could release the information, they asked members of the public to send Monero to their account. Two addresses were displayed, with one representing “Yes” and the other representing
no.” interested parties can donate to each, based on their preference.

Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign’s communications director, confirmed the hack. In a tweet, he assured the public that no sensitive data was affected, adding that the campaign was working with law enforcement to find the attack’s origins. While Trump has been guilty of spreading misinformation and not doing his best to curtail the coronavirus, it’s highly unlikely that he had anything to do with the pandemic’s origins.

Earlier this evening, the Trump campaign website was defaced and we are working with law enforcement authorities to investigate the source of the attack. There was no exposure to sensitive data because none of it is actually stored on the site. The website has been restored.

— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) October 28, 2020

Another hallmark of the criminals’ nature is the fact that their message had terrible wordings. The message had several grammatical inaccuracies, punctuation errors, and more. This is a smoking gun. Terrible messaging aside, the hackers knew the right asset to use. Criminal applications of Monero have surged this year, with many hackers using it for its privacy features. Data from CoinMarketCap also shows that Monero is the most valuable privacy coin. 

Biden Has Been Hacked Too

Trump isn’t the only notable politician to fall victim to cybercriminals this year. Former Vice President Joe Biden, was one of the many notable names affected by the Twitter impersonator scam that swept the social media network back in July. At the time, hackers had broken into several Twitter accounts and urged people to send Bitcoin to a specific address. While Twitter was quick to act and take down the tweets, the hackers still managed to cart away about $100,000. Former President Barack Obama was also affected by the scam.

Since then, Twitter has made commitments to improving its security infrastructure and preventing such an occurrence from happening again. The company blamed the hack on a social engineering scheme, explaining that it would sensitize its staff and employ more security and identity verification methods going forward.