PM Modi's personal Twitter account was "briefly compromised", his office informed. (File)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal Twitter account was "briefly compromised", his office posted on the social networking site early on Sunday morning, after it shared a scam link promising a bitcoin giveaway.
"The Twitter handle of PM @narendramodi was very briefly compromised. The matter was escalated to Twitter and the account has been immediately secured. In the brief period that the account was compromised, any Tweet shared must be ignored," PMO India tweeted.
The account has now been restored and the malicious tweets have been deleted.
According to screenshots shared on Twitter by several users, tweets put out from PM Modi's @narendramodi account read, "India has officially accepted bitcoin as legal tender. The government has officially bought 500 BTC and distributing them to all residents of the country." Along with the tweet, a possible scam link was also attached.
The tweet was soon deleted but not before #Hacked began trending in India.
Users flooded the micro-blogging site with the screenshot of the now-deleted tweet.
"Good Morning Modi ji, Sab Changa Si?," tweeted Srinivas BV, National President, Indian Youth Congress.
Political activist Tehseen Poonawalla also took to Twitter and said, "Was the Twitter account of the Hon'ble PM shri #NarendraModi ji hacked? And promise of #Bitcoin !!"
Another Twitter user wrote, "#PMmodi #modi account #hacked, please do not click on the link. It's a scam. ... Even PM's account is not safe. How safe will be Indian social media from hackers, manipulators, scammers and foreign influence? #Twitter verified security compromised?"
Earlier, in September 2020, the Twitter account linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal website and mobile app was hacked by an unknown group.
(With inputs from ANI)