Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s website was the latest victim of a Twitter hack by Bitcoin scammers. PM Modi’s personal website “narendramodi.in” has a Twitter account (@narendramodi_in) which was hacked. The scammers reportedly posted tweets asking for bitcoin donations to the PM National Relief Fund.
Twitter confirmed the security breach and assured that an active investigation was taking place. The hacked account, which has more than 2.5 million followers, has not been deleted and is posting regular updates currently. Malicious tweets have been taken down. PM Modi’s personal Twitter account is unaffected.
Did Perpetrator identified?
Indian press reports suggest that a hacker named “John Wick” has claimed responsibility for this act. This information was found in a screenshot where the hacker tweeted it out saying “yes this account is hacked by John Wick (hckindia@tutanota.com)”. This tweet was later deleted.
Cryptocurrency hacks becoming commonplace
This incident follows the July hacking of prominent American twitter accounts – Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, to name a few – by BTC scammers. Today’s events follow the same modus operandi of asking for bitcoin donations via Twitter accounts of notable people. However, the perpetrators for this hack were apprehended by American authorities. Therefore, the identity of today’s hackers remains a mystery.
Popular Indian Youtuber Ajey Nagar, alias CarryMinati, saw his YouTube gaming livestream hacked by similar entities, asking for BTC donations to local flood relief funds.
The use of cryptocurrencies for illegal activities is being seen proactively in online scams because BTC and other cryptocurrency transactions are invisible to regulatory authorities. The Indian government has not held a stance on the use of digital currency yet.
