Several social media accounts belonging to An Garda Síochána, Ireland’s national police service, were breached by hackers in an incident linked to cryptocurrency. The compromised accounts, including @GardaTraffic and @GardaInfo on X (formerly Twitter), were used to post numerous messages promoting a cryptocurrency, raising concerns about security risks.
The @GardaTraffic account, which has 600,000 followers, and the @GardaInfo account, with nearly 300,000 followers, displayed warnings indicating they had been linked to a suspended account due to potential violations of rules around spam, malicious behavior, and security threats. Both accounts had their locations changed to Amsterdam, Netherlands, although the @GardaTraffic account still claimed to be the official account for traffic and road safety updates.
The @GardaInfo account was renamed to appear as a support account for a cryptocurrency wallet, though old posts and videos from An Garda Síochána remained visible. The breach has prompted warnings about the misuse of official platforms for cryptocurrency-related scams. An Garda Síochána has been contacted for comment but has not yet responded.