Imran Khan (former prime minister and chairman of Pakistan’s largest political party) confirmed that his Instagram account had been compromised. Hackers used the account to spread a crypto giveaway scam.
Imran Khan’s Instagram Account Hacked, Used to Promote Crypto Scam
Imran Khan (a former Pakistani prime Minister and currently chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf [PTI], one of largest political parties within the country) confirmed to reporters that his Instagram account had been hacked on Monday.
Dawn published was told by the hacker that his account was quickly restored with help from Meta, who is also owner of Facebook. He stated that he personally monitors his account with 7.4million followers and that hackers had posted a crypto link as well as a screenshot of Elon Musk’s tweet to it.
The cryptocurrency link posted on the politician’s account leads to a crypto giveaway site featuring Musk and his company Spacex. Scammers say they are giving away Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin(DOGE), and Lightcoin (LTC).
Popular social media sites like Youtube and Twitter are full of cryptocurrency giveaways. Some of these scams feature well-known people or companies like Musk, Spacex and Apple as well as Steve Wozniak, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Sometimes they feature CEOs of cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
Wozniak sued Youtube, Google and Google in July 2020 over promoting scams involving bitcoin giveaways by using his picture and name. He lost the suit. “Youtube and its parent, Google LLC, are protected by the federal law that shields internet platforms from responsibility for content posted by users,” the judge on the case ruled.
In July, the British Army‘s official Youtube and Twitter accounts were compromised and hackers similarly used them to promote their crypto giveaway scams.
In an effort to fight scams, several crypto firms, including Binance and Circle, launched a crypto scam reporting platform in May to allow “anyone in the crypto economy to warn others about scams, hacks, or other fraudulent activity as they encounter it.”
What do you think about Imran Khan’s Instagram account being used to promote a crypto giveaway scam? Please comment below.
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