India Prime Minister Suffers Another Twitter Hack; Fake Tweet Sent Promising Bitcoin to All Indians
The attack followed one in autumn 2020 that was part of a widespread hack used to trick social media users to send cryptocurrency to the attackers.
Dec 12, 2021 at 2:09 p.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/DIG6QXOC2FBKDOCD65ZY7D7ATE.jpg)
Kevin Reynolds is Editor in Chief at CoinDesk. He owns bitcoin, ether, polygon and solana.
The Twitter account of India Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefly hacked early Sunday morning local time, the second such attack on an account linked to the PM in little over a year.
- While the account was restored quickly, the hacker had enough time to tweet, falsely, that India had adopted bitcoin as legal tender and that the government had bought 500 bitcoin and would distribute them to all Indians.
Now-deleted fake tweet send from PM Modi's account.
- The tweet was soon deleted and another tweet was sent announcing the account had been secured.
- Given the government is about to consider regulating cryptocurrencies with some officials calling for an all-out ban, if the hacker is pro-crypto it was perhaps not the best way to gain sympathy to their cause.
- As part of a widespread hack of the Twitter accounts of prominent people last year, the account of Prime Minister Modi’s relief fund was taken over and a fake tweet was sent seeking donations to an account belonging to the hackers.
Fake tweet sent from PM Modi's relief fund in Sept. 2020
DISCLOSURE
Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.
The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.
:format(webp)/www.coindesk.com/resizer/V6XgCkzU9bPyDNOHE1ls_jvnIrs=/arc-photo-coindesk/arc2-prod/public/HTEM5NBEFVFDDGGLJVAFF7E3Y4.png)
Kevin Reynolds is Editor in Chief at CoinDesk. He owns bitcoin, ether, polygon and solana.
Learn more about Consensus 2023, CoinDesk’s longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.
Kevin Reynolds is Editor in Chief at CoinDesk. He owns bitcoin, ether, polygon and solana.
:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/CYCX7LWKRBGI5DCLKHHYJIL52E.jpg)
:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/7LDC7D5IS5DBPL4N6UTVLA4SXM.jpg)
:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/PJTR3KRDWJCRVE3QREM6KUOK7A.png)
:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/3LWYGWIABFELHGBEOVTO3DR75M.jpg)