Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) has confirmed that its official X (formerly Twitter) account was hacked on the evening of Friday, January 31.
The account, which has over 800,000 followers, was compromised and its handle changed from ‘KBCChannel1’ to ‘DeepSeek AI,’ sparking confusion among Kenyans.
A quick investigation by City Mirror revealed that the account had been taken over by cryptocurrency scammers. The hackers rebranded the account to ‘DeepSeek AI,’ a name associated with a rapidly growing Chinese AI company that is similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The hack caused the account to remain inactive for over 20 hours, with many social media users expressing concern and curiosity about the situation.
In response, KBC issued a statement through its sister station, KBC Radio Taifa, assuring the public that they were working to restore the account to normalcy.
“KBCChannel 1’s X account was compromised, and we are actively working to restore full access. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and urge caution when engaging with any recent posts from the account,” the media house said in its statement.
DeepSeek AI recently made headlines after a security breach exposed one of its databases, potentially compromising sensitive data, including chat histories, secret keys, and other critical information.
This incident highlights a growing global trend where cybercriminals hijack high-profile social media accounts to carry out fraudulent activities.
Cybersecurity experts have repeatedly warned about the increasing sophistication of such scams, with hackers often impersonating trusted brands, celebrities, or organizations to deceive followers.
In some cases, attackers may hold hacked accounts for ransom, demanding payment from corporations or individuals before releasing control.
