Crypto Scammers Briefly Hack Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's Instagram Account

The Instagram account of Imran Khan, former Pakistani prime minister and chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was briefly hacked on Monday. 

From his Instagram account, the hacker posted a promotional tweet about cryptocurrencies. A link to Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's fake crypto account was also attached to his handle. 

The post praised Musk for giving three Bitcoins as a gift. Although Khan, a former Pakistan cricketer, has not yet issued an official statement, his supporters and party members have urged everyone to avoid the Instagram account and refrain from commenting on any photos.

The account was hacked, Dr Arslan Khalid, the party's social media head, told Dawn newspaper. He added that it was quickly restored with the aid of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

Dr Khalid said that he kept track of Khan's 7.4 million-follower account and that the hackers had provided a Bitcoin link to it. According to Khalid, the hackers also shared a screenshot of a tweet from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

A story featuring a screenshot of Elon Musk's tweet about winning $100,000 was also posted on Khan's Instagram account. Khan's verified account lauded Musk in the hacker-posted narrative. A similar story was also shared on Instagram. However, that post has already been taken down.

Last week, the Twitter account of Asad Umar, former Federal Planning Minister and secretary general of the PTI, was hacked. After a while, it was recovered.

Scams involving cryptocurrency giveaways are quite prevalent on well-known social media sites like Twitter and YouTube. Many include well-known individuals and organisations, such as Musk, Tesla, SpaceX, Apple, Tim Cook, Steve Wozniak, Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates.

In fact, Wozniak filed a lawsuit against YouTube and Google in July 2020 for using his name to promote Bitcoin giveaway scams. He lost the lawsuit nonetheless.

Hackers also used the official Twitter and YouTube accounts of the British Army in July to spread cryptocurrency giveaway scams.