Yogi Adityanath’s Twitter account hacked to promote Ape NFTs

YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) – Hackers compromised several Twitter accounts belonging to Indian Government agencies and political parties to promote fake nonfungible tokens (NFTs), including from the Azuki project.

Notably, the account of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath could also be temporarily seen promoting NFTs.

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Official Account of University Grants Commission (UGC) hacked

The attackers took control of the official account of the University Grants Commission (UGC) on Sunday. The UGC is a statutory body that functions under the Ministry of Education, Government of India. 

Several Indian news agencies shared the news on their social media channels.

UGC India's official Twitter account hacked. pic.twitter.com/t37ui8KNuC

— ANI (@ANI) April 9, 2022

The hacker reportedly changed the display and background pictures to an NFT from the famous Azuki collection. In addition, the handle also put out several tweets promoting a fake drop, tagging hundreds of Twitter users. 

One of the tweets the hacker put up regarding the fake drop read:

 “In celebration of the reveal of the Beanz Official Collection, we have opened up an airdrop to all active NFT traders in the community for the next 24 hours! Welcome to the Garden.”

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Azuki is one of the most popular and sought-after NFT communities out there. According to the official page on OpenSea, the floor price of the project while writing is 22.5 ETH or $71.500. In addition, the collection has a total trading volume of almost $179,000 ETH. In fiat currency terms, that comes to over $560 million. 

Besides the University Grants Commission, other accounts also fell victim to hackers.

Four major hackings in days aimed at NFT promotion

In just two days, hackers successfully compromised four major Indian Twitter accounts. On Saturday, the Twitter handle of the Indian Meteorological Department, an agency of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India, also fell victim to a hack. 

The hack came a day after the Twitter handle of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was hacked. Considered one of the most popular politicians in India, his handle has over 4 million followers. Hackers used a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT as its profile picture. In addition, the account claimed to belong to one of the co-founders of BAYC.

Twitter handle of UP CM Yogi Adityanath's office hacked, account restoredhttps://t.co/v5vTJJ1nev
April 09, 2022 at 06:48AM pic.twitter.com/EDVQDVPMTK

— GAGAN PREET (@gppreet) April 9, 2022

The Info Uttar Pradesh Fact Check account, belonging to the State Government, also got targeted along with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Following the incident, the official handle of his state Uttar Pradesh fell prey to a hack on Monday morning. The hacker put up a tweet promoting a fake Benz NFT drop. 

“In celebration of the reveal of the Beanz Official Collection, we have opened up an airdrop to all active NFT traders in the community for the next 24 hours! Claim Your Beanz,”  

the pinned post with a GIF image read. 

Punjab Congress' official Twitter handle hacked.#Punjab #Congress #Twitter #Account #Hacked pic.twitter.com/5NSlMRn11G

— Sanj Samacharᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠ (@Sanj_news) April 11, 2022

Shortly after this, a similar post appeared on the official account of the Punjab unit of the Indian National Congress, the major opposition party of India that ruled the state until recently. The Twitter handle with over 185,000 followers had also put out multiple NFT-related posts, tagging random users.

While the overall incident is condemnable, it does come with a silver lining. The news’s wide coverage in the national media has brought NFTs to the Indian masses.