The social media accounts of Lara and Tiffany Trump were hacked to promote a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. That breach has called attention not just to implications for the Trump family but also to greater issues involving digital security in the cryptocurrency space.
This incident comes at a time when the Trump family is trying to establish a foothold in the digital asset market.
The Trump X Account Hack Unfolds
The breach started when unauthorized posts began appearing on the X accounts of Lara Trump, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee, and her sister Tiffany Trump.
TRUMP FAMILY HACKED
Multiple President TRUMP affiliated accounts have been hacked. Do not interact with this Solana Meme Coin.
Laura Trump and Tiffany Trump accounts have been hacked.
A memecoin on Solana was announced from both accounts and is fake.
Eric Trump and… pic.twitter.com/T6geUyav78
— Chase (@ChaseTheCEO) September 4, 2024
The posts in question spoke about a new cryptocurrency outfit called World Liberty Financial that was going to “take power away” from the banks and return it to the people. They were directed to what appeared to be the official channel, where they could purchase a governance token on the Solana blockchain through links.
The website was registered through an anonymous service linked to a notorious dark-web marketplace. Lara’s husband Eric Trump immediately weighed in on the matter with a posting to his own X account: “This is a scam!!!”
.@twitter was amazing and has locked down @LaraLeaTrump and @TiffanyATrump accounts within minutes.
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) September 4, 2024
He said both women’s accounts had been hacked, thanking X “for shutting them down in minutes.” Still, the posts gathered momentum, as hundreds of users clicked on the links before they were removed.
Implications For Cryptocurrency
However, the hacked posts misled not only the followers but also the cryptocurrency market badly. The price of Solana mentioned in those posts rose 9% before bouncing after the fraudulent announcements.
All this is particularly distressing given the Trump family’s continued attempts to cozy up to the crypto community. Donald Trump himself has staked out a rhetorical posture as an advocate of digital assets–even going so far as to tease, upon occasion, that he intends to create some sort of national Bitcoin reserve, should he be elected.
But with scams bearing the Trump name hitting the market, such ambitions get decidedly more complicated. If that were not enough, in the past, attempts to issue tokens linked with the Trump family were terribly scandals, as is the case with a token at the center of a rug pull earlier this year.
A Wake-Up Call For Digital SecurityAll these definitely prove that Lara and Tiffany accounts were hacked and it’s the very latent warning of the vulnerabilities in social media and cryptocurrency. Now, scammers use high-profile accounts to add credibility to their scheme. The project itself, World Liberty Financial, had its own share of problems as reports of its counterfeit website have gone up online.
As the Trump family navigates their way through the subtleties of the digital money ecosystem, one thing is becoming resoundingly clear: security will play a major role. The incident once again raises questions regarding the safety of digital assets and user vigilance.
Featured image from WIRED, chart from TradingView
