Imran Khan's Instagram account briefly hacked

Islamabad, Aug 02: The Instagram account of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan was briefly hacked on Monday by crypto scammers who shared a post lauding Tesla Motors Founder Elon Musk for "donating" three bitcoins, according to media reports.

The Instagram account of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief was recovered soon with the help of Meta - Facebook and Instagram's parent company, PTI social media head Arslan Khalid told the Dawn newspaper.

Arslan Khalid said he himself monitored Imran Khan's account where the hackers shared a cryptocurrency link with his 7.4 million followers.

Arslan Khalid said the hackers also shared a screenshot of a tweet from Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, a PTI report said.

The billionaire is often impersonated by scammers to cash in on his interest in cryptocurrencies.

The former premier's Instagram account shared a post lauding Tesla Motors Founder Elon Musk for "donating" three bitcoins.

Imran Khan's Instagram profile also shared a story with a screenshot of Musk's tweet about winning USD 100,000.

The PTI chairman's verified account thanked the Space X boss in the story posted by the hackers.

The same story was also posted as an Instagram post which has now been deleted.

The alleged tweet from Elon Musk's account could not be found on his official handle.

Khan is not the only PTI member whose account was hacked this year, according to Pakistan Observer newspaper.

Last week, the Twitter account of PTI Secretary General and former Federal Planning Minister, Asad Umar, was hacked. The account was recovered after several hours.