The infamous hacker known as “10 MacBooks” has returned to Twitter and successfully hacked the official account of actor LeVar Burton, known for his roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Reading Rainbow. The hacker has been targeting verified celebrity accounts on Twitter for months, and Burton’s account, with over 2.1 million followers, is their latest victim.
As per their usual pattern, the hacker locked Burton’s account and posted a scam tweet offering heavily discounted MacBook Pros. A new element in this hack is the inclusion of a smartphone propped up next to the laptop box, showing Burton’s logged-in account, seemingly as proof of authenticity.
Furthermore, the hacker likely gained access to Burton’s account through a phishing email, fooling the actor into logging into a malicious website posing as Twitter. Burton’s daughter, Mica, confirmed the hack and revealed that she had been blocked by her father’s hacked account after announcing the incident.
Unfortunately, the scam appears to be working for the hacker, who has been using the same methods for at least six months. Victims of the scam have lost thousands of dollars paying for nonexistent MacBooks. Twitter’s response to these hacks has been criticized for being slow, often taking weeks or even months to return accounts to their rightful owners.
LeVar Burton joins a growing list of high-profile Twitter users, including fellow Star Trek actor Jonathan Frakes, who have fallen victim to the “10 MacBooks” hacker. The hacker’s activity had temporarily decreased in recent weeks, possibly targeting smaller and less noticeable accounts.
It is speculated that Elon Musk’s removal of the blue verification checkmarks from legacy verified users may have affected the hacker’s tactics. Despite the lull, the hacker has found new ways to trick Twitter’s most followed users into providing their login credentials, indicating an ongoing threat to account security.
