Irish police social media accounts breached by hackers

A number of social media accounts used by An Garda Síochána (Irish police) appear to have been hacked and used to promote cryptocurrency.

The @GardaTraffic and @GardaInfo X accounts removed Garda branding and began publishing posts promoting a cryptocurrency on Wednesday night, according to Irish broadcaster RTÉ.

Some posts on the accounts were flagged with warnings indicating they are linked to another suspended profile, while the location of the accounts was changed to Amsterdam.

BBC News NI has contacted An Garda Síochána for comment.

On Wednesday morning 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, is not showing any biographical information but older An Garda Síochána posts are still visible on the account.