Looking to capitalize on the surge of Bitcoin’s popularity, some mischievous pranksters from 4chan’s random image board are trying to convince Mac users to trash their computers.The hoax claims that Apple has included Bitcoin mining software on all Macs since 2009, but you just need to enter a simple terminal command to unlock it.Of course, there is no secret Bitcoin mining app hidden in OS X, so what does the terminal command sudo rm -rf/* in the picture actually do?Oh, it just basically reformats your hard drive.Convincing Mac users that a secret mine of wealth is secretly locked away in their computers sounds like a hard sell, but The Daily Dot reports that at least two people have already fallen for the prank.This isn’t even the first bricking prank 4chan’s random image board has pulled off this month.Over the weekend some Xbox One owners were duped into believing a special code would unlock backwards compatibility with the Xbox 360, but it really just bricked their new machines.

Of course if you really do want to turn your Mac into an expensive Bitcoin mining rig, there are some apps for that.General piece of advice: don't go around typing stuff into your computer's terminal window based on some pictures you found randomly floating on the internet.You're not very likely to unlock a hidden bitcoin miner in your Mac, and far more likely to brick the thing instead.There's apparently a rumor going around that Apple's actually been hiding bitcoin miner in its PCs ever since the crypotcurrency's launch circa 2009, and that the trick to unlocking it is just one little line of code.The pitch goes a little something like this: If you have any idea what "sudo rm -rf/*" means, you're probably already snickering.If not, well, it reformats your whole machine.Trying to con folks into deleting everything they have is a prank as as old as computers, but it seems this recent (topical!)iteration bubbled up from the depths of 4chan's /b/.And while it seems too ludicrous to believe that folks are falling for this, the Daily Dot has scooped up evidence that suggests a few have, or at least went out of their way to fake it.

Considering there was also a "secret backwards compatibility" hoax that had folks bricking their brand new Xbox Ones, it seems like it's been a hard few weeks for uninformed tech owners.bitcoin 402Fortunately there's a fix: just take a hammer to the screen, bring your computer back to the Apple store, tell them you got the "bitcoin defect" and they'll give you a new one!bitcoin usb stickA group of hackers who claimed to hold millions of iCloud accounts for ransom said on Friday they'd been paid.denver bitcoin centerBut one bitcoin expert says that's bogus.bitcoin buyer in pakistanThey demanded increasing ransoms from Apple while threatening to wipe the data from devices connected to the affected accounts if it did not.On Friday, the hackers tweeted that they had been paid US$480,000 in bitcoin.bitcoin litecoin charts

As proof, the group posted a link showing a transaction on Blockchain.info, a popular bitcoin wallet.bitcoin ebay scams“We were told by our negotiator that we have come to a final agreement with Apple,” the hacking group tweeted prior to receiving the payment.However, the hackers actually tweeted out a transaction to an "internal treasury operation at a bitcoin exchange," according to Jonathan Levin, co-founder at Chainalysis, a provider of anti-money laundering software for bitcoin."Wehave positively identified that the inputs and outputs of that transaction are controlled by a single bitcoin exchange," Levin said in an email.The transaction was part of an internal money deposit process at a Korean bitcoin exchange, he said.Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.The tech giant has said that it never suffered any such breach.The stolen login credentials that the hackers obtained appeared to come from breaches at other third-party services, Apple said.Security researchers suspect that's true, and they believe the Turkish Crime Family has exaggerated its hacking claims.

The hacking group also didn't respond to a request for comment.To comment on this article and other PCWorld content, visit our Facebook page or our Twitter feed.Bitcoin News Apple Told You So - Bitcoin Opponent Gets Rash of Bitcoin Scam Apps Apple Told You So - Bitcoin Opponent Gets Rash of Bitcoin Scam Apps ​The Apple App Store has suffered a rash of fraudulent Bitcoin wallet apps that have defrauded some people of up to $10,000 in Bitcoins.The operation involved “spoofing” or cloning current legitimate Bitcoin wallet applications like Breadwallet, which is open-source, and therefore easily accessible.The apps were done well enough to bait store users into making deposits while thinking they were using trusted, brand-name apps.Apple’s vetting process defeated Apple has taken down the fake apps, which numbered into the double-digits, and has seemingly kept the damage to consumers to a minimum.How the apps made it through Apple’s legendary screening process is unknown.

Popular corporate wallets like Coinbase and BitGo were also re-created to bilk users out of their precious digital currency."We talked with one customer who claims to have lost about $10,000, and if we go and look at the coin address where those coins were deposited, last I checked there was $20,000 listed at that address," said Breadwallet co-founder Aaron Voisine in an interview with Vice’s Motherboard."So, that's our current estimate for how much customers have lost.I think it would be good for Apple to go through some extra process to make sure they have the identity of the person posting any app in the finance section.Apple and the Bitcoin community have been less than bosom buddies when it comes to Bitcoin apps and the iconic app store for most of Bitcoin’s existence.Apple, for what seemed like forever, first removed popular new apps like Blockchain.info’s wallet app from their App Store, then made a practice of denying any Bitcoin-related apps to penetrate their online app-approving defense.