On Sunday evening, the X account of Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) sent out posts inviting users to share their addresses for a chance to receive tokens for likes and retweets.
The account also went ahead and shared another post asking local media to support the idea of launching a blockchain project.
Additionally, several other posts were shared promoting the token, including step-by-step instructions on how users could purchase it.
Well, as it turns out, the entire stunt was not an official initiative at all—the account had been taken over by crypto scammers.
However, as of 19:34, the fraudulent posts appeared to have been deleted, suggesting that the account has since been restored.
This should however not come as a surprise considering X has become fertile ground for crypto scammers since Elon Musk took over the social media platform in 2022.
Under his leadership, the platform underwent significant changes, including mass layoffs and cost-cutting measures that affected key teams responsible for content modera
tion and platform security.
With fewer security measures in place, scammers have increasingly exploited the platform to impersonate public figures, government agencies, and prominent brands, luring unsuspecting users into fraudulent crypto schemes.
The hacking of the DCI’s account is just the latest example of how even official government pages are not immune to such breaches.
Update from The DCI
The DCI has confirmed the hack.
”For some moment this evening, we experienced a cyber-attack on the DCI digital platforms (X and Facebook), but have since regained full control. During the short period, the cyber criminals who attempted to take over the accounts posted the information captured on the screenshot below.” DCI posted on X.
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