Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official Twitter hacked, attempts BTC scam
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official Twitter account recently got compromised on December 12, leading the hacker to post a piece of misleading information about Bitcoin adoption in India as well as redistribution of 500 Bitcoins among the citizens.
Modi had said in a virtual summit last week hosted by US President Joe Biden that technologies like blockchain and cryptocurrencies should be used for empowering democracy and not undermining it.
Modi had stated that by working together, the world’s democracies would be prepared of meeting the aspirations of their citizens and could “celebrate the democratic spirit of humanity.”
While the long-awaited Winter Session of the Lok Sabha had intended to discuss the legality of cryptocurrencies in the country, it did not make inferences about the government’s stance on crypto. Following the session, hackers from unknown origins had managed to take control of the Modi’s account with over 73.4 million followers and used it to declare Bitcoin as a legal tender.
While the hack was reported at midnight in India (around 4:00 pm EST), a Twitter user named Priya was among the many crypto enthusiasts that had taken notice of the untimely tweet that read that “India has officially adopted Bitcoin as legal tender,” and the government “has officially bought 500 BTC”, as well as the authorities, would be distributing those to residents as “the future has come today!”
The post had also included a link urging unwary investors to sign up for claiming their share of the Bitcoin giveaway. However, this has been the second time PM Modi’s Twitter account suffered a hack and was used for cryptocurrency scams.
After the hack was reported, the unauthorized tweet had been deleted, and the hack was officially confirmed by the Prime Minister’s Twitter account.
Before this, hackers were able to breach Modi’s Twitter profile back in September 2020, under the pseudo name John Wick. The hackers had then shared several tweets asking the Prime Minister’s followers to “donate generously to PM National Relief Fund for Covid-19.”
The launch of the Indian Crypto Bill has sparked new concerns around the outright ban of private cryptocurrencies. While the meaning of “private” in the legal framework has yet to be clarified in the parliamentary meeting, its lack of information has resulted in major panic among investors.
Former Finance Secretary Subhash Garg, who is actually the bill’s creator, had recently addressed speculations around the crypto ban where he dismissed the notion of banning “private cryptocurrencies” as a grave misinterpretation.
In his interview with News18, Garg had said that the description of the crypto bill had “perhaps been a mistake,” and it was indeed, misleading to say that private cryptocurrencies would be banned or “to intimate the government about the same.”
