Hackers offer to sell Belarusian President Lukashenko’s passport as NFT

Anti-government hackers have attempted to sell what they say is an NFT of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s passport. Members of the collective “Belarusian Cyber Partisans“claim to have obtained the passport data of all citizens of the country.

Belarusian cyber guerrillas attempt to index NFT passport collection on Opensea

A group of hackers known as “Belarusian Cyber Partisans“boasted that it was able to access a government database containing the passport details of all Belarusian citizens, including senior officials such as longtime head of state Alexander Lukashenko.

The hackers released a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called “Passports of Belarusians“, which reportedly also contained the passport data of the country’s president and his close associates. The group also attempted to list the collection on NFT’s main marketplace, Opensea, but the platform removed it due to a violation of its terms.

🧵1/3🔥For the 1st time in human history a #hacktivist collective obtained passport info of the ALL country’s citizens. Now we’re offering you an opportunity to become a part of this history 😎. Get a unique digital version of #lukashenka passport as #NFT https://t.co/gOlWdoUehi pic.twitter.com/RxdWpBqA8f

– Belarusian Cyber-Partisans (@cpartisans) August 30, 2022

Promoting their initiative on Twitter, the group said they were launching the NFTs exactly on Lukashenko’s birthday, August 30. “Help us ruin his life“they urge, while suggesting a “special offer“Buy a version of your passport with a photo of the “dictator… behind bars… while he is still alive“.

In another tweet, the hacktivist collective says it has also put up for sale the passports of Lukashenko’s closest allies.”and traitors of the peoples of Belarus and Ukraine“. Its members promise that all funds raised will be used to support “our work to strike at the bloody regimes in Minsk and Moscow“.

However, some members of the cryptographic community doubt the authenticity of the identification documents, as reported by the Russian cryptographic news site Bits.media in an article. He points out a typo on the first page shown in the digital version of Lukashenko’s passport and a misspelling of his first name in English.

The “Belarusian cyber-partisans“have targeted the administration of the Eastern European nation led by Lukashenko for its support – logistical and otherwise – of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine. For example, he took responsibility for a cyberattack on the Belarusian railway system, demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country.

The hacker group raised money in crypto-currencies to fund its activities. According to a report by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic published in early February, before Russia launched its “special military operation” in Ukraine, the Belarusian cyber guerrilla group was able to raise $84,000 in crypto-currencies.