Hackers siege Troye Sivan's Twitter, promising album and hocking cryptocurrency

Sivan became an early victim of Elon Musk's legacy check mark purge after hackers accessed his account and fired off a tweet advertising a fake cryptocurrency

By Hattie Lindert  |  April 26, 2023 | 5:48pm
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Hackers siege Troye Sivan's Twitter, promising album and hocking cryptocurrency
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Since the brave new world of Twitter Blue has done nothing but cripple the already-unstable state of veracity online, it’s time for some fact-checking: yes, Troye Sivan has a new album coming out, but no, he is not affiliated with or touting a new cryptocurrency called $TROYE.

On Tuesday, Sivan apparently became an early victim of Elon Musk’s legacy verification purge, which also involved the rescindment of two-factor authentication for any users not subscribed to Twitter Blue. After hackers gained access to Sivan’s no-longer-verified Twitter, the account fired off a since-deleted tweet excitedly promising the imminent release of Sivan’s third album before pivoting to a different kind of all-too-familiar online promotion: hocking the benefits of cryptocurrency. The tweet promised anyone holding $TROYE tokens, first access to the album, and invited readers to claim $TROYE via a link to troyesivan.com.

There is, as it happens, actually no such thing as $TROYE, which Sivan himself elucidated in a series of Instagram stories responding to the hack. In fact, the tweet was published less than a month after Sivan deactivated his account (making it even more likely that the hackers were able to access the handle through a backdoor unlocked by the removal of two-factor authentication).

“I deleted my Twitter so whoever has the account now is not meeeeee they are scammers,” Sivan shared. “We’re gonna get it deleted hopefully but Twitter is a hell scape… This is not the rise of crypto Troye.”

Before the hackers attempted to repurpose his rollout for a crypto gag, Sivan had begun promoting his next album the old-fashioned way: dressed in head-to-toe Saint Laurent for a prestige magazine feature. Speaking with Elle’s Véronique Hyland on Monday, The Idol star revealed his new album—heavily inspired by post-lockdown clubbing experiences at home in Australia—has left him “the most proud I’ve ever been of anything I’ve done.”

“I think what I feel comfortable saying is that it’s full of hope, which I didn’t know it was going to be when I first started making it,” Sivan shares. There it is, straight from the source: the new Troye Sivan album runs on optimism and Down Under fun, not $TROYE.

 
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