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India Prime Minister Suffers Another Twitter Hack; Fake Tweet Sent Promising Bitcoin to All Indians

The attack followed one in autumn 2020 that was part of a widespread hack used to trick social media users to send cryptocurrency to the attackers.

By Kevin Reynolds
AccessTimeIconDec 12, 2021 at 2:09 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 7:02 p.m. UTC
Narendra Modi (Shutterstock)

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The Twitter account of India Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefly hacked early Sunday morning local time, the second such attack on an account linked to the PM in little over a year.

  • While the account was restored quickly, the hacker had enough time to tweet, falsely, that India had adopted bitcoin as legal tender and that the government had bought 500 bitcoin and would distribute them to all Indians.
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    • Now-deleted fake tweet send from PM Modi's account.
    Now-deleted fake tweet send from PM Modi's account.
    • The tweet was soon deleted and another tweet was sent announcing the account had been secured.
    • Given the government is about to consider regulating cryptocurrencies with some officials calling for an all-out ban, if the hacker is pro-crypto it was perhaps not the best way to gain sympathy to their cause.
    • As part of a widespread hack of the Twitter accounts of prominent people last year, the account of Prime Minister Modi’s relief fund was taken over and a fake tweet was sent seeking donations to an account belonging to the hackers.
    Fake tweet sent from PM Modi's relief fund in Sept. 2020
    Fake tweet sent from PM Modi's relief fund in Sept. 2020

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    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

    Kevin Reynolds
    Kevin Reynolds

    Kevin Reynolds is Editor in Chief at CoinDesk. He owns bitcoin, ether, polygon and solana.

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