THE Twitter accounts of a top NHS boss were hacked to promote a PlayStation 5 sales scam.
Helen Bevan, who is chief transformation officer of NHS Horizons, saw her two accounts broken into and used to flog fake PS5 listings.
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She has now regained control of the accounts, which had a combined follower count of more than 140,000, the BBC reported over the weekend.
Helen said that dozens of people had sent her direct messages claiming to have fallen for the scam, which made fake offers of PS5 stock.
Sony’s console remains sold out at most retailers, spawning a wave of scams targeting gamers who are desperate to get their hands on the £449 machine.
Helen also paid £110 to someone who said they could recover her accounts, but turned out to be a scammer as well, according to the BBC.
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It emerged that Helen had not activated two-factor authentication on her account, which protects users from hackers.
She said she wanted to use her story to help others avoid a similar fate.
“Put 2-factor authentication on your Twitter account immediately,” Helen tweeted.
“Don’t pay any ‘account recovery service’ – go through Twitter to get your account back.”
She admitted that she “didn’t necessarily make the best decisions” during the ordeal.
Once the hackers had cracked her password, they deleted her original tweets and renamed the accounts, according to the BBC.
“They were following Walmart, Dixons, PC World, Target,” she said.
“They would wait for them to tweet about PS5s and then reply, saying we’ve got PS5s in stock now, DM [direct message] me.”
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It’s not clear how many fake sales were made using the compromised accounts.
Twitter restored the accounts for Helen after two days.
If you use Facebook, Twitter or Google then you may have heard of two-factor authentication.
It’s an extra step you can enable that lets you protect your account – beyond simply having a password.
Once enabled, you’ll be required to enter a special code sent via text or email, which you enter to log in.
This is in addition to your password. It means that if your password has been hacked (or guessed), your account will remain safe.
Because Helen did not have it activated, hackers were able to break into her accounts after guessing her password.
They then changed the email address and password associated with those accounts so that she could not recover them.
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X – when did they launch and how much do they cost?
Microsoft launched the Xbox Series X and its smaller, cheaper sibling, the Series S, on November 10.
The release date covered the UK, US, Australia and a bunch of other countries worldwide.
The disc-free Series S costs £249/$299, while the Xbox Series X comes in at £449/$499.
So how does that compare to the new Xbox’s biggest rival, the PlayStation 5?
The PS5 launch fell on November 12, but not everywhere.
That date only stood for the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
UK gamers had to wait until November 19 to order one of the consoles.
The PS5 proper costs £449.99/$499.99, while the digital edition comes in at £359/$399.
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In other news, The Sun’s favourite alternative to a games console is the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset.
Check out the wildly impressive Panasonic 65HZ1000 TV, which makes most tellies look rubbish.
And Dell’s Alienware R10 Ryzen Edition is a gaming PC powerhouse that crushes both the new consoles.
Have you spotted any PS5 scams? If so, let us know in the comments!
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
