Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Twitter account was hacked Sunday with a message declaring his nation had adopted bitcoin as authorized tender and was distributing the cryptocurrency to residents.
Modi is a prolific tweeter and is the world’s hottest incumbent politician on the platform, with greater than 73 million followers on his major account.
A swiftly deleted tweet from his major @narendramodi deal with stated the Indian authorities had formally purchased 500 bitcoin and was “and distributing them to all residents of the country”, together with a rip-off hyperlink.
His workplace tweeted that the account was “very briefly compromised” and that Twitter had since restored management.
It was the second time one among Modi’s Twitter accounts was hacked, after one other was taken over final 12 months to ship out a tweet urging the general public to donate to a faux coronavirus aid fund.
Sunday’s hack paradoxically comes as India prepares to clamp down on a flourishing cryptocurrency commerce with a brand new regulation prone to be launched in parliament this month.
Details of the laws stay unclear however the authorities has flagged a broad ban on personal digital currencies.
The native crypto market has boomed for the reason that Indian Supreme Court overturned a earlier ban final 12 months, with Bollywood actors and cricket stars fronting advert campaigns for native exchanges.
Modi himself stated final month that cryptocurrencies may “spoil our youth” and the central bank has repeatedly warned they may pose “serious concerns on macroeconomic and financial stability”.
© 2021 AFP
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Indian PM’s Twitter hacked once more by crypto scammers (2021, December 12)
retrieved 12 December 2021
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