Clive Palmer's United Australia Party, Trumpet of Patriots hit in ‘ransomware cyber attack'
The UAP and Trumpet of Patriots confirmed it had identified an unauthorised access to its servers on June 23.
'We identified unauthorised access to our servers resulting in access to, and the possible exfiltration of, certain data records,' the statement read.
'We were the subject of a ransomware cyber attack.'
The data records breached in the hack potentially include all emails to and from the political parties - including their attachments - and documents and records created and or held electronically by the political parties at any time in the past, the statement continued.
The parties confirmed the breach may include people's personal information, including email address, phone number, identity and banking records, documents and employment history.
However, UAP and Trumpet for Patriots have said they were unsure what hackers accessed during the breach.
'We do not know comprehensively what information of yours was on the server, but you should assume that any information you have provided would have been stored on the server,' the statement read.
The political parties said because they 'do not keep records' of the individuals who were on the server, they 'determined it is impracticable to notify individuals'.
Instead, they said they have 'secured our systems and restored recoverable data from back up tapes'.
They have also reported the breach to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and to the Australian Signals Directorate.
Affected people have been urged to monitor their bank accounts, change their passwords and enable two-factor authentication as a precaution.
'We recommend that you review your communications (emails and mail) with us to identify any information you have provided to us and consider what other information might be affected,' the parties said.
'We recommend you carefully consider whether you need to take any action in response to the data breach on the assumption that the hackers may have accessed your data.
'We urge you to follow general precautionary steps and remain vigilant about the misuse of your personal information.'
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ABC News
an hour ago
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On the tail of a scammer
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Serious allegations had been made against him, concerning a series of scams that involved cryptocurrencies, hacked social media accounts, and millions of dollars in takings. With Australians losing an estimated $1.3 billion to investment scams in 2023, it was a rare chance to see the other side of this equation: the perspective of an Australian scammer. Over the years, Serpent has reinvented himself multiple times, but through every incarnation, his real identity remained unknown. I decided to try to track him down. The obvious place to start was his teenage years. Serpent was once a celebrated gamer, amassing hundreds of thousands of subscribers on his YouTube account, where he posted highlights of himself playing the video game Fortnite. But he was caught cheating in June 2020 and became the subject of a minor scandal in the online gaming world. Articles were written about his e-sports team dropping him, and Epic Games banning him from Fortnite forever. A 2020 article discussing Serpent's cheating scandal. ( ) In a public apology, in which he admitted to cheating, Serpent explained that his choices had been "blurred by the money, influence and experiences" of the pro-gamer lifestyle. Half a decade later, he appeared to have succumbed to the same set of vices. But if the barrage of emails hitting my inbox was anything to go by, it seemed unlikely he was going to apologise for it. A 'pump and dump' scheme Following his exit from professional gaming, Serpent restyled himself as an online vigilante. He outed scammers in long threads on Twitter, tracing the flow of cryptocurrencies from scam websites to their operators. He even posted screenshots of himself confronting the perpetrators on social media. "Somebody get this man a cape already," wrote one follower. "Wow, this is impressive detective work!" posted another. As his profile grew, Serpent started throwing his clout around by promoting a strange new cryptocurrency. It was called $ERROR coin, and he had invented it himself. Like other bespoke cryptocurrencies, Serpent's creation served no function in reality. Its value was purely speculative, so it was worth exactly as much as everyone else thought it was. To exploit this, Serpent hyped $ERROR up as the next big thing in crypto, before launching it publicly in March 2024. Serpent spreads the word about $ERROR coin on X. ( ) Word spread, and investors got wind. Not wanting to miss out, many of them bought in. The hype cycle was now in full effect. As $ERROR coin became increasingly valuable, Serpent's stash was suddenly worth serious money. And that's when he hung everyone else out to dry. Serpent started selling his own coins as fast as he could, flooding the market and sending the value of $ERROR coin down to zero. By the time he was done, investors were left with a pile of worthless digital coins. This playbook is so common it has a name: a "pump and dump" scheme. 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Serpent found himself being publicly shamed in the same way he had done to others. "If you buy my plane ticket," wrote one user who claimed to have lost money on the scam. "I will go to Australia and [mess with] those two. !!!" "He had a bad reputation back when he used to play in Fortnite," chimed in another. "Rats never change." They were angry, but there was little they could do; Serpent's financial trickery fell into a grey area, since it had taken place in an essentially unregulated market. This was months before the president of the United States would mint a cryptocurrency in his own image, and thrust the concept of a "meme coin" into the mainstream. Donald Trump created his own "meme coin" in early 2025. ( ) After $TRUMP coin was launched, the US financial regulator decided that bespoke coins were "akin to collectables" rather than financial instruments in need of regulation. This loose approach to crypto laws has the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) concerned. The regulator has made cryptocurrency scams an enforcement priority in 2025. "Any weakening of [crypto] regulation is of concern for us," ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb has said. Serpent's misdeeds had been insulated from the real world, where fraudulent behaviour has real consequences. But it wouldn't stay that way for long. The gambling connection After the heat died down from ZachXBT's exposé, Serpent got into the habit of live-streaming with friends. Notably, he was seen making serious bets on an online casino that allows customers to play using cryptocurrencies. He kept the broadcast going as he gambled, and forgot to turn it off as he moved money in and out of his account, sometimes as much as $US200,000 at a time. A screenshot of Serpent depositing money into on a live-stream. ( ) An owner of a rival casino, who did not want to be identified, confirmed that crypto scammers are often big gamblers. "These kids are dime a dozen in the casino space," he told me. "They scam a bunch of people, clean their funds … and gamble their money away." During his gambling sessions, Serpent momentarily flashed the addresses of his cryptocurrency accounts onto the screen. This was all ZachXBT needed to dig deeper into Serpent's online activity. The sleuth followed the digital breadcrumbs, uncovering financial connections between Serpent and a string of further crypto scams. These involved more serious crimes, including hacked accounts and fraud. The most surreal began with a rogue post from McDonald's official Instagram account, promoting a McDonald's-themed meme coin called $GRIMACE. A curious ad for the $GRIMACE meme coin. ( ) Apparently believing it to be officially endorsed by McDonald's, investors were duped into buying almost $US700,000 worth of the coin. 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Daily Telegraph
an hour ago
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Press Council Adjudication
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ABC News
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