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- PMO India has escalated the matter quickly to Twitter while removing the link to the Bitcoin giveaway scam.
- Bitcoin/crypto scams targeting popular personalities are on the rise once again.
Over the last weekend, the official Twitter account of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was compromised with hackers making false claims of Bitcoin adoption. A tweet promoting a Bitcoin scam appeared on Narendra Modi’s Twitter profile. The tweet also made false claims of the Indian government buying 500 Bitcoins. The tweet read:
India has officially adopted bitcoin as a legal tender. The government has officially bought 500 BTC and is distributing them to all residents in the country.
Furthermore, the tweet also contained a link to the website promoting the Bitcoin giveaway scam. However, the officials have taken cognizance of the matter and removed the link now. The tweet has also been removed in a few hours of its first appearance. However, it is not clear as to who all were the victim of the scam. Later on Sunday, the official Twitter handle of India’s Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) also updated about the event. It noted:
The Twitter handle of PM @narendramodi was very briefly compromised. The matter was escalated to Twitter and the account has been immediately secured. In the brief period that the account was compromised, any Tweet shared must be ignored.
The incident happens just days after India confirmed that it won’t be banning digital assets. Instead, the government is working on new regulations surrounding the use of cryptocurrencies. The officials are still figuring out the rules pertaining to India’s crypto bill.
Popular personalities prime targets for crypto scams
Well, with the strong emergence of the crypto market, the hacker community has gone active. They have specifically targeted popular personalities with millions of followers on social media. This makes them appear to be at the center of several crypto scams.
This isn’t the first time that hackers have targeted social media handles of popular personalities or government officials. Back in September 2020, the hackers attacked the handle @narendramodi_in linked to Narendra Modi’s personal website. Tweets promoting the Bitcoin scam also appeared on the Twitter handle.
Last year in July 2020, cybercriminals attacked Twitter accounts of multiple western personalities. This includes names like U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama. On top of, the hackers also compromised handles of business tycoons like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
PM Modi on crypto regulations
The Indian Prime Minister has been instrumental recently in deciding the state of crypto in the country. Besides, in his recent public address, PM Modi also called for a collective effort from the world’s leading democracies to create the framework for crypto regulations.
On the other hand, the government is also taking measures to deal with such scams appearing online. During a recent Lok Sabha hearing, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar said:
The Government is well aware of cyber security threats as the Internet expands and more & more Indians get connected and use Internet. Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is mandated to track and monitor cyber security incidents in India.
