Lara and Tiffany Trump’s social-media accounts were apparently hacked on Tuesday evening, with attackers promoting a crypto scam.
The now-deleted posts on X, formerly Twitter, mentioned World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency project linked to the Trump family that has not yet been officially launched. In the posts, both Lara and Tiffany Trump appeared to endorse the project, sharing links to its alleged website.
Eric Trump, the former president’s son and Lara’s husband, quickly warned X users that the two accounts had been attacked.
“This is a scam!!!” he wrote on X. “@LaraLeaTrump and @TiffanyATrump’s Twitter profiles have been compromised!!”
The former president’s son praised Elon Musk‘s social-media platform for locking down the accounts “within minutes.” The Tesla CEO has endorsed Trump in his third bid for the presidency.
Tiffany (in white) and Lara Trump (in blue) stand with Eric (with blue tie) and Donald Trump Jr. (far right) at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July. The women’s X accounts were apparently…
Julia Nikhinson/AP
Lara and Tiffany Trump’s accounts are now back online, and the posts have been deleted.
The hoax was confirmed by an official account for World Liberty Financial on X, which wrote: “ALERT: Lara’s and Tiffany Trump’s X accounts have been hacked. Do NOT click on any links or purchase any tokens shared from their profiles. We’re actively working to fix this, but please stay vigilant and avoid scams!”
ALERT: Lara’s and Tiffany Trump’s X accounts have been hacked. Do NOT click on any links or purchase any tokens shared from their profiles. We’re actively working to fix this, but please stay vigilant and avoid scams!
— WLFI (@worldlibertyfi) September 4, 2024
Trump has been courting bitcoin enthusiasts in the country, placing himself as a defender of cryptocurrency against the government’s regulatory scrutiny. During a speech at the Libertarian National Convention in May, the former president promised the 50 million people in the country who own cryptocurrency that he “will keep Elizabeth Warren and her goons away from your bitcoin.”
While Warren has repeatedly called for more regulation on the industry, flagging concerns that the technology could be used to cover up illegal activities, Trump told crypto owners in July that his “job will be to set you free” and make America “the crypto capital of the planet and bitcoin superpower of the world.” The comments were made during the annual bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee—Bitcoin 2024.
Trump’s 2024 campaign officially accepts contributions made with cryptocurrency. “President Trump stands ready to embrace new technologies that will Make America Great Again,” his official campaign’s website reads.
In a video shared on X last Thursday to his 90 million followers, Trump said that, that same afternoon, he would have laid out plans “to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet.” The clip ended with World Liberty Financial’s logo.
The former president made no specific announcement on that day regarding his plan to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the planet. Newsweek contacted Trump’s 2024 campaign team for comment by email on Wednesday morning, outside of standard working hours.
On the same day, Eric Trump posted on X: “Excited to announce the launch of @WorldLibertyFi! A new era in finance is here.”
As of today, there are no clear details about how Trump’s crypto project, which involves his sons Eric and Donald Jr., would work, and World Liberty Financial has not been launched.
Earlier this week, The Independent published an exclusive, which found that more than 70,000 people have been scammed through fake giveaways linked to a channel mimicking World Liberty Financial’s official Telegram account, called “World Liberty Financial Airdrop.”
The newspaper reported that the channel managed by cyber criminals had managed to place ads on World Liberty Financial’s official account, which later warned users against “fake airdrops or token sales.”
Update, 9/4/2024 4:43 a.m. ET: This breaking news article was updated to include more details and background information on the story.
