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Hacker Takes Over Pro Wrestler's Twitter Account, Protests Motherboard Investigation of Social Media Account Hacking

A member of OGUSERS hacked the pro wrestler Adam Cole with the goal of selling his Twitter account.

A hacker took control of the Twitter account of pro wrestler Adam Cole and used it to protest Motherboard’s recent investigation into a forum where members trade stolen social media accounts.

On Monday, using Cole’s account, the hacker posted a link to their personal website and asked followers to tweet “Fuck you leave OGUsers” to the official Twitter account of VICE. As we reported last week, OGUSERS is a website that where members buy and sell usernames for a variety of platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, Skype, Steam, and other gamertags.

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The hacker, who goes by Moe The God, contacted me on Tuesday and shared a series of screenshots that showed he had control of Cole’s Twitter and email account.

“I SIM swapped him,” the hacker said, referring to the increasingly popular hack that consists of taking control of someone’s cellphone number. (Motherboard could not confirm that this is how the hacker broke into Cole’s account, but the fact that they were apparently able to hack Cole’s email and Twitter suggests this is a possibility.)

“I was bored,” the hacker said when I asked why he wrote the tweet against VICE. “And u guys are on OGUSERS, when we have done nothing to you guys.”

Read more: How To Protect Yourself From SIM Swapping Hacks

SIM swapping is also known as SIM hijacking or “port out scam.” This type of fraud has become so popular this year that T-Mobile and AT&T have warned their customers about it, asking them to add new security measures to their account in order to prevent these attacks. In the last year, hackers have used this technique to hack celebrities like Selena Gomez, people involved in the cryptocurrency world, and regular internet users who have unique usernames such as @rainbow or @hand, as Motherboard reported in a recent investigation.

Moe The God said he hacked Cole because the pro wrestler has a verified account, which makes it more valuable when trying to sell it on OGUSERS. The hacker is trying to sell the Twitter account for $100 on the forum.

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“I didn’t even have a clue who he was,” the hacker claimed.

The hacker is also offering to follow anyone for $10 and tweet whatever someone wants for $50.

As of this writing, the hacker appears to still have control of Cole’s Twitter account.

A call to a number associated with Cole was not answered.

Got a tip? You can contact this reporter securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, OTR chat at lorenzofb@jabber.ccc.de, or email lorenzo@motherboard.tv

Since we started reporting on SIM hijacking and the OGUSERS community, Instagram contacted several victims of SIM swapping, and the company has returned at least one of the stolen accounts mentioned in the Motherboard investigation. However, as the hacking of Cole's account shows, as long as hackers can find target’s phone numbers and impersonate them with their carriers, these hacks are likely to continue.

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