X accounts belonging to Donald Trump’s relatives were compromised to tout a token tied to a family cryptocurrency venture
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump © Getty Images / Emily Elconin / Stringer
Social media accounts belonging to family members of Donald Trump were compromised on Tuesday to publish fake posts advertising a family cryptocurrency venture that has yet to be unveiled, Eric Trump, a son of the former US president, has claimed.
The posts on X (formerly Twitter) appeared to come from the accounts of Lara Trump, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee, and Tiffany, the younger of the Republican nominee’s two daughters. The short messages, which have since been taken down, referenced World Liberty Financial and promoted a website address along with a token claiming them to be part of the project.
“This is a scam!!! Lara Trump and Tiffany Trump’s Twitter profiles have been compromised!!” Eric Trump, who co-created the venture, wrote on X, emphasizing in the follow-up post that Twitter “was amazing and [had] locked down” the accounts within minutes.
World Liberty Financial confirmed the information, urging the public not to “click on any links or purchase any tokens shared” from the compromised accounts. The enterprise said in a post on Telegram that it was “actively working to fix” the issue, and called on people to remain “vigilant and avoid scams!”
.@twitter was amazing and has locked down @LaraLeaTrump and @TiffanyATrump accounts within minutes.
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) September 4, 2024
Trump and his sons have been promoting their decentralized finance (DeFi) project for several weeks. Last week, the presidential candidate shared a video of himself with a voiceover saying: “This afternoon, I’m laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet.” He also promised to unveil a plan that he expects to turn the US into the world’s cryptocurrency capital.
READ MORE:
US will be ‘crypto capital of the planet’ – Trump
Trump Jr. had previously said the platform would rival the traditional banking system. The project’s Telegram channel has been gaining subscribers, with more than 219,000 followers as of Wednesday.
Earlier this week, CoinDesk reported, citing excerpts from the enterprise’s internal documentation, that the project will include a “credit account system” built on DeFi platform Aave and the Ethereum blockchain to facilitate decentralized borrowing and lending.
