Garda social media accounts breached by crypto-hackers

Social media accounts used by An Garda Síochána appear to have been taken over in a breach related to cryptocurrency.

A warning has been attached to some posts from the profiles due to being linked with another suspended account, which can happen for violations of rules around spam, malicious behaviour and security risks.

The @GardaTraffic and @GardaInfo accounts on X removed some branding and started publishing scores of posts about a cryptocurrency last night.

The location on both accounts has been changed to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, but the @GardaTraffic account, which has 600,000 followers, still claims it is the garda account for traffic and road safety updates.

The @GardaInfo account, which has almost 300,000 followers and is still linked from the official garda website, is no longer available under that username as it has been changed to appear as a support account for a cryptocurrency wallet.

However, old videos and posts made by An Garda Síochána are still visible on the account.

An Garda Síochána has been contacted for comment.