The official Philadelphia Police Department Twitter account appeared to be hacked early Wednesday as the @PhillyPolice handle suddenly went to a verified page for a business help service.
The change first appeared in a Tweet at 3:10 a.m. on Oct. 12, 2022, as the profile name changed to "Business Helper," the profile photo turned to a woman sitting in front of a laptop and the account, which normally puts out surveillance video of crimes and promotes police events, instead posted a link to a business video-maker.
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By 4:44 a.m., the now "Business Helper" page had posted at least 17 separate tweets and retweets, including links to workflow automation and web data sites. The page has nearly 246,000 followers.
No further tweets were posted after the initial 90-minute barrage.
The "Business Helper" page also appeared at the bottom of the PhillyPolice.com as of 5:55 a.m.
Previous tweets releasing information pertinent to the police department remained on the page Wednesday morning, but had the "Business Helper" label.
A Philly police spokesperson responded to NBC10's request for comment around 6:15 a.m. by writing "we are looking into this," but offering no further comment.
By 6:30 a.m., the page once again showed the police department logo and said "Philadelphia Police Department" again. The earlier "Business Helper" tweets were then removed.
The police department's Instagram and Facebook pages both appeared normal throughout Wednesday morning.
