We’re still working to confirm this, but it looks like someone has finagled their way into Lady Gaga’s insanely popular Twitter account. That, or the pop icon really did just offer free iPad 2s to all 17 million people that follower her (through the shadiest looking website in the world, no less.)
There’s been at least two tweets so far. The first went up just under an hour ago, promising Macbooks for all of her followers “in the spirit of the holidays”. All they needed to do to grab theirs? Just visit some shady link, fill out a few details… and then sign up for a bunch of offers and tell your friends to do the same. That one got pulled almost instantly.
Just a moment ago, however, a second one went up: same promise, except with “free” iPad 2s instead of Macbooks. This one has yet to be deleted.
Interestingly, it looks like whoever’s found their way into Gaga’s account (assuming that Gaga isn’t making the ridiculous jump from blasting out number one hits and selling out tours to slinging slimy affiliate redemption deals on the Internet) knows full well whose account they’re in, suggesting that it’s not just some generic automated malware that struck gold. Each of the tweets refers to those reading it as “Monsters”, as that’s how Lady Gaga addresses her fan base.
I shouldn’t have to say it, but just in case: don’t click the links, folks.
Update #1: For the curious, the bitly stats page for the link suggest that around 7,000 people have clicked it. Bit.ly has just updated the link to warn incoming users that it is “potentially problematic”.
Update #2: Same thing seems to be going on with Nelly Furtado’s account:
Update #3: They’ve pulled the second link down.
Update #4: Heh. Within 2 minutes of the second link being pulled, a third one has gone up.
Update #5: Gaga confirms the hack, and assures her followers that it’s now over.