Paraguay's President Santiago Pena has just been involved in an unfortunate incident when his X (formerly Twitter) account was hacked. The Paraguayan government immediately dismissed a post on the President's account, which claimed that the country had made Bitcoin legal tender and started a strategic Bitcoin reserve worth $5 million. This incident once again raises alarms about cybersecurity in the cryptocurrency space.
A fraudulent post on President Pena's account also included a Bitcoin address and urged potential investors to "secure their stake" in the project. However, less than an hour later, the government #Paraguay quickly responded, confirming: "The president's official account on social media X had unusual activity, indicating the possibility of unauthorized use."
This is not the first time that highly influential X accounts have been hacked. Cybercriminals often target the social media accounts of high-profile individuals to spread fraudulent messages, promising huge profits in order to deceive investors into sending their cryptocurrency to a crypto address. In other cases, hackers attempt to scam people into buying a coin they own a majority of, then dump the token, causing the price to plummet as they cash out.
Previously, in September 2024, hackers took control of the Supreme Court of India's YouTube channel to broadcast cryptocurrency advertisements $XRP . Earlier, the X accounts of filmmaker Oliver Stone, Yahoo News UK, and Brazilian footballer Neymar Jr. had also been attacked to promote meme coins. One of the largest hacks occurred in 2020, when hackers took control of the X accounts of former US President Barack Obama, former President Joe Biden, Apple, Uber, Kanye West, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates as part of a Bitcoin-related scam.
Currently, #ElSalvador is the only country in the region that has made Bitcoin legal tender, and its government is also purchasing cryptocurrency for its treasury, despite the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urging the repeal of the Bitcoin law. Nevertheless, Paraguay is still known as a Bitcoin-friendly country, with many cryptocurrency mining operations being established, and President Pena has previously expressed a desire to make the country a technology hub.
This incident highlights the importance of enhancing security for the social media accounts of public figures, especially in the context of the rapidly growing cryptocurrency market, which has become an attractive target for cybercriminals. #anhbacong
