David Bridges
The Twitter account of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, may have been hacked, The PUNCH observed late Monday.
NAPTIP’S official handle, @naptipnigeria, which has been its prime medium on the microblogging site since 2013 was seen bearing links to YouTube videos of a supposed bitcoin trading lesson.
This is believed to be the handiwork of hackers who get access to the backend of social media accounts of notable individuals and organisations to sell their merchandise to the unsuspecting audience.
Eight hours before the unusual tweet, the agency had posted a short video clip with the caption: “In a bid to encourage members of the public to participate in the fight to #endhumantrafficking we have launched CONVERSATION with NAPTIP – an online interactive platform to periodically interact with the general public on burning issues relating to Human Trafficking & SGBV.”
But at 08:13 pm Monday, NAPTIP tweeted a cryptocurrency-themed YouTube video link with the caption, “Crypto holders, check this out!👇”.
Recall that in a show of digital force, hackers breached the Twitter accounts of former US President Barack Obama, current US President Joe Biden, hip hop artist Kanye West, and billionaires, Bill Gates and Elon Musk in July 2020.
The hackers had tweeted identical messages which read: “I am giving back to the community. All Bitcoin sent to the address below will be sent back doubled! If you send $1,000, I will send back $2,000. Only doing this for 30 minutes.”
Spokespersons of the affected public figures all described the message as a scam. But at the time, thousands of followers had taken the bait.
Although Twitter quickly took down the posts, more tweets emerged from the same accounts minutes later.
As of this report, NAPTIP’s media unit told our correspondent that they had been alerted to the unusual account activity and are working to regain control.
Ivy Caldwell
Sophie Langley
