On Tuesday morning, Lucy Powell, the Leader of the House of Commons, was the target of a hack. Her X account was hacked. Powell’s office had confirmed the breach and immediately took steps to regain control of the account and delete the misleading posts. The damage was felt by Powell’s close to 70,000 followers. It promoted a fraudulent cryptocurrency named after today’s date, “$Today,” but referred to as “$HCC” coin.
The fraudulent posts touted the "$HCC" coin as "a community-driven digital currency bringing people's power to the blockchain."
The plan resembles a typical “pump and dump” swindle. At this point, promoters usually dump the asset’s price with misleading hype-filled positive claims, sell their assets at artificially inflated prices while taking advantage of investors and leaving them holding the bag.
This sentiment was echoed by CoinShares’ Luke Nolan, senior research associate, who often comments on these events.
"This is a pump and dump." - Luke Nolan, senior research associate at CoinShares
Nolan’s critique rings true with the facts of the scam. Recent data shows very little action around the “$HCC” coin, with just 34 transactions so far. The whole enterprise only took a few hours, but it made an instant profit of about £225!
The House of Commons has provided some direction to its members on the use of digital that promotes their safety.
"We provide advice to users - including Members - to make them aware of the risks and how to manage their digital safety; however, we do not comment on specific details of our cyber security policies." - A House of Commons spokesman
