British Minister X accounts are hacked to promote fake "House of Commons" cipher

The British government’s Lucy Powell X account has been hacked to promote a fake cryptocurrency called “$HCC.”

The post deleted to the House of Representatives account described the coin as a “community-driven” digital currency project. The hack was confirmed Tuesday morning, accounts were quickly set aside and misleading posts were deleted. Other well-known public figures have also been targeted in similar ways recently by online hackers.

X account of the minister hacked in “House of Commons Coin”
So…someone hacked real British government minister Lucy Powell and used her verified X account to illuminate a completely fake cryptocurrency called “HCC.” Yes, like a common coin in the house.
Hackers are full…pic.twitter.com/1mcdeqsyiq
– The Narpher (Mare of @mrineer) 15, 2025

Some of these posts featured the official House of Commons logo. Lucy Powell, Manchester Central’s MP with 70K followers, is a House leader and a key Cabinet role. The hack incident is especially concerning given her famous position.

Scammers often hijack X accounts to promote fake cryptocurrencies. They can usually access it by tricking users with phishing emails or using passwords leaked in data breach. When you control your account, you create a worthless crypto token in the hopes that your followers will purchase it. The scammers then make money by selling the scammers quickly before the scams are exposed and their accounts are closed.

Luke Nolan of Coinshares called the hack a classic case of “pump and dump” scams. There, the con man increased the value of the coin with fake hype and dumped it for profit. In this case, only 34 transactions were made, earning around £225.

He said: “The tweet appears to have been deleted very quickly, meaning that the unfolder (the person who made the coin) didn’t have the opportunity to pull that much from people who might have invested in the coin.”

A House spokesman said cybersecurity is a top priority and will provide advice to members on digital safety, but has not commented on specific security measures.

Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre, reported an increase in social media and email hacks in 2024, with over 35,000 incidents. They recommend using two stages of verification and a strong, unique password for better protection.