MANILA, Philippines – Within weeks of each other, the X accounts of former vice president Leni Robredo and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa were hacked to promote a cryptocurrency blockchain platform.
On Monday morning, February 17, Leni Robredo and her daughter Aika posted that the former vice president was in the process of regaining her account. They both disowned the compromised account’s recent post that promoted Solana, a blockchain platform. The post is no longer available on the platform as of writing.
Earlier this month on February 3, Ressa’s X account was hacked and had also promoted Solana in various posts. Ressa retrieved her account the following day, on Tuesday, February 4.
This is not the first time the Rappler CEO was the subject of a cryptocurrency scam online. A Rappler report from March 2024 found that a deepfake of Ressa’s interview with American talk show host Stephen Colbert was manipulated to promote the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The report was circulated by a fraudulent online network with links to Russia.
In August 2024, the official X account of the Department of Finance (DOF) was compromised and made at least 180 posts about crypto schemes. The compromised account is now unavailable on the platform and the DOF has since moved to a new account. – with reports from Kaye Cabal and Christa Escudero/Rappler.com