Indian prime minister’s personal Twitter account hacked
New Delhi, Sep 3 (efe-epa).- A personal Twitter account of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hacked on Thursday, the microblogging site said, with an unknown hacker posting a series of tweets to seek donations for a relief fund through cryptocurrency from its over 2.5 million followers.
A Twitter spokesperson told EFE that the hacking of Modi’s @narendramodi_in account appeared to be an isolated case. The account is linked to Modi’s website, www.narendramodi.in.
“We’re aware of this activity and have taken steps to secure the compromised account. We are actively investigating the situation. At this time, we are not aware of additional accounts being impacted,” the spokesperson said.
The prime minister’s office did not put out any statement in response to the hack.
The hacker posted several messages from the hacked account asking for donations in Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptocurrency. The messages by the hacker have since been taken down.
“I appeal to you all to donate generously to PM National Relief Fund for Covid-19. Now India begin with crypto currency. Kindly donate eth (sic),” read a tweet from the hacker.
The hacker identified himself in one of the messages as “John Wick,” a fictional character played by Keanu Reeves in a Hollywood movie of the same name.
The incident comes after several Twitter accounts of prominent personalities were hacked in July.
The Twitter accounts of United States presidential candidate Joe Biden, former president Barak Obama, billionaires Bill Gates and Elon Musk, among many others, were hacked for a scam offering Bitcoin payments in July.
However, Twitter said it was still investigating if there was any indication or evidence of any link between the July incidents and Modi’s account hacking.
The messages on the hacked account were published at dawn. The last message by Modi on the handle was a quote from his monthly radio broadcast “Mann ki Baat” that was posted on Monday.
Modi’s main account @narendramodi, unaffected by the incident of hacking, has 61.8 million followers, making him one of the most followed politicians on Twitter. EFE-EPA
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