Hackers gained control of the UK Member of Parliament Lucy Powell’s X account on April 15 to promote a fake Solana memecoin. Powell, who has 70,000 followers on her account, is the Leader of the House of Commons. In a couple of now-deleted posts, Powell’s account promoted the House of Commons Coin, known as HOC or HCC, describing it as a “community-driven digital currency bringing people’s power to the blockchain.” The post also included the fake token’s contract address and DexScreener link. Fake post promoting HOC token (Source: Politics UK) Powell’s team, however, confirmed the hacking of the account to BBC, adding that they had acted quickly to resolve the matter and take back the account. How the hackers compromised the verified account remains unknown. In spite of the exploit, it is doubtful if there was any material effect. DexScreener statistics indicate that there were only 616 trades and a total trade volume of $58,000 for the HOC token, which implies insignificant to zero activity with the token. The market cap has also fallen to $3,000. Hackers keep targeting popular figures on X The incident highlights the growing trend of crypto scammers hacking the accounts of popular figures, especially politicians, to promote fake tokens. Last month, the account of Ghana President John Mahama was hacked to promote Solanafrica memecoin. In that instance, the hackers had control for more than 48 hours, promoting a coin they claimed was created by Ghana in partnership with Solana and the World Bank to make payments fast and free in Africa. With the account having over 2 million followers and the exploit lasting for two days, it is uncertain how people were affected by the incident. Before that, other prominent political figures have also had their X accounts hacked this year. These include Argentine lawmaker José Luis Espert and former vice president of the Philippines, Leni Robredo. In both cases, the hackers promoted fake projects. The resurgence of X account exploit to promote crypto tokens is reminiscent of 2020/2021 when notable personalities such as Tesla founder Elon Musk, former US President Barrack Obama, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos all had their Twitter accounts compromised. Interestingly, hackers are not just compromising X accounts to promote fake tokens. Sometimes, they do it to spread fake news. In December 2021, the X account of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hacked, and the hacker tweeted that India had adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. Last year, an Alabama man, along with others, also hacked the US Securities and Exchange Commission account to post that the SEC has approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. The fake post caused BTC to rise by more than $1,000. Politicians promoting crypto make it more difficult to identify scams Meanwhile, it has become more difficult to identify whether a politician promoting a token has been compromised after several genuine incidents of political figures promoting crypto tokens. Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump launched and promoted the TRUMP memecoin a few days before his inauguration, while First Lady Melania Trump promoted the MELANIA memecoin soon after. Argentine President Javier Melei also promoted a token called LIBRA, which eventually crashed, leading to a political scandal and calls for a probe of Melie. Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadera also launched the CAR memecoin in February 2025 and promoted it with a video on his X account. Cryptopolitan Academy: Tired of market swings? Learn how DeFi can help you build steady passive income. Register Now
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