Paraguay’s government has dismissed a recent post on President Santiago Peña’s official X account claiming the country made Bitcoin legal tender and established a $5 million Bitcoin reserve.
The fraudulent tweet included a Bitcoin address and encouraged investors to “secure your stake”. Within an hour, authorities reported irregular activity on the president’s social media account, indicating a likely hack.
Cybercriminals often target high-profile social media profiles to spread false announcements promising large crypto returns and trick users into sending funds to scam wallets.
Similar incidents include the September takeover of the Indian Supreme Court’s YouTube channel to promote XRP and hacks of prominent X accounts belonging to filmmaker Oliver Stone, Yahoo News UK, and soccer star Neymar Jr., where scammers pushed meme coins.
One major X account breach in 2020 compromised profiles of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Apple, Uber, Kanye West, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates, all linked to a Bitcoin scam.
El Salvador is currently the only country in the region to have made Bitcoin legal tender and actively purchases the cryptocurrency, despite IMF opposition. Paraguay continues to foster a Bitcoin-friendly environment with growing crypto mining operations and President Peña’s vision to develop the country as a tech hub.