LONDON: The X account of a British minister was hacked on April 15 to promote a fraudulent "House of Commons" cryptocurrency, her spokesperson told AFP.
"Lucy Powell's personal X account was hacked this morning," said a spokesman for the MP, who has been leader of the House of Commons since July.
"Steps were taken quickly to secure the account and remove misleading posts," he added.
The verified account, followed by nearly 70,000 people, was used early Tuesday to spread a series of messages promoting the "House of Commons Coin ($HCC)" cryptocurrency, allegedly linked to the lower house of the British parliament.
Scammers attempt to inflate the value of a crypto coin before selling to secure a profit, crashing its value in the process.
$HCC saw around 34 transactions in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday's hack, generating a profit of around US$260, digital asset management company CoinShares told AFP.
"It seems that the media coverage has allowed this cryptocurrency to gain a little more traction," said CoinShares' Benoit Pellevoizin, who added the coin had a total transaction volume of US$55,000, up from US$7,000 earlier in the day.
It is not the first time that cyber-criminals have impersonated public figures, notably by taking control of their social media accounts to promote fraudulent crypto projects.
Ghanaian President John Mahama's X account was hacked last month for 48 hours and posted messages supporting the digital currency "Solana Africa", a scam falsely claiming to be run by the head of state.
The attempts seem all the more credible given that Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei have supported crypto projects on their own X accounts, which have also resulted in multi-billion dollar losses for investors. – AFP
