BJP chief’s Twitter account briefly hacked, crypto donations sought for Russia, Ukraine
The Twitter account of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Jagat Prakash Nadda was hacked on Sunday morning, with several tweets asking for donations in cryptocurrency to help Russia and Ukraine.
A now-deleted tweet sought cryptocurrency donations for Ukraine while another tweet, also deleted, was posted saying the account was hacked and the donations are actually for Russia as they are the ones who “need assistance”.
“Stand with the people of Russia. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Bitcoin and Ethereum,” the tweet read.
While the account now seems to have been restored, the BJP is yet to issue a clarification on the hacking.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and technology, told news agency ANI that the government is aware of the hack and the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is looking into it.
Ukraine’s crowdfunding efforts have raised more than $5 million in Bitcoin, Ether and other tokens since Friday, according to a Bloomberg report, as Russian troops continue to encircle Kyiv to overthrow President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine’s official Twitter handle shared details of the crypto wallets on Saturday, which was confirmed by one of the country’s top cyberdefense officials that the tweet and the wallet details were accurate, the report said.