UK Minister’s X Account Hacked to Promote Fake ‘House of Commons’ Crypto

In a strange case of online fraud, UK government minister Lucy Powell’s official X (formerly Twitter) account was hacked to promote a fake cryptocurrency called $HCC, which was falsely described as the “House of Commons Coin,” according to a BBC report.

Fake Coin, Real Account

The misleading posts, which were quickly deleted, claimed that $HCC was a “community-driven” digital currency project. The hack was confirmed on Tuesday morning. The account was secured soon after, and the false content was removed before it could spread widely.

Some of the fake posts included the official House of Commons logo, which made the scam appear more credible. Lucy Powell is the MP for Manchester Central and serves as the Leader of the House of Commons, a senior cabinet role. With more than 70,000 followers, her account is a high-profile target, making this incident especially concerning.

High Profile Accounts At Risk?

It’s common for online scammers to take over X accounts to promote fake cryptocurrencies. They often use phishing emails or stolen passwords to gain access. Once they’re in, they create a worthless crypto token and try to convince followers to invest. The scammers then sell their own coins quickly to make a profit before the fraud is discovered and the posts are removed.

Luke Nolan from digital asset company CoinShares said this was a classic case of a “pump and dump” scam. In this kind of scheme, scammers create fake excitement around a coin to drive up its value, then sell off their holdings for a quick gain.

In this case, only 34 transactions took place, totaling about £225.

He said: “It appears that the tweet got deleted quite quickly, which meant that the deployer (person who made the coin) did not really get a chance to extract that much from people who might have invested in the coin.”

Social Media Hacks on the Rise

A spokesperson for the House of Commons said that cybersecurity is taken very seriously and that members are given advice on how to stay safe online. However, they declined to comment on the specific measures taken in this case.

According to Action Fraud, the UK’s national center for reporting fraud and cybercrime, there was a significant increase in social media and email hacks in 2024, with more than 35,000 incidents reported. They recommend using two-factor authentication and strong, unique passwords to help protect online accounts.