NHS exec's Twitter accounts hacked to promote PS5 scam
Consolation prize.
An NHS executive's Twitter accounts were hacked to promote a PlayStation 5 sales scam.
Helen Bevan, who is chief transformation officer of NHS Horizons, saw her two Twitter accounts with a combined 133,000 followers hacked and then used to flog fake PS5s, the BBC reports.
According to the BBC, Bevan paid £110 to someone who said they could restore the accounts within 25 minutes, but they turned out to be a scammer as well.
Bevan hadn't properly enabled two-factor authentication on her Twitter accounts, it emerged. Twitter restored the accounts after a couple of days, but Bevan found messages from people asking about PS5s in her DMs, suggesting some fell foul of the scam.
In a tweet, Bevan admitted she "didn't necessarily make the best decisions", but said she wanted to use her story to help others avoid a similar fate, saying: "Put 2-factor authentication on your Twitter account immediately... Don't pay any 'account recovery service' - go through Twitter to get your account back."
The supply-constrained PS5 is one of the most sought-after consumer electronics products in the world, and scams and scalpers have been an issue ever since the console launched last year.
In November eBay issued a warning to scammers who were selling photos of a PlayStation 5 on the auction website. In December, cops in Utah were alerted by a local resident who received a concrete brick instead of a new PS5.
PS5 scalpers have caused havoc with the console in recent months, too - so much so that MPs got involved. Earlier in March, UK retailer Currys launched a lottery system for the release of new PS5 stock.