U.S. Secret Service to Probe Obama Death Hoax on Twitter

A group of cyber-criminals hacked the Fox News' Twitter account on Monday, tweeting a series of disturbing messages claiming that President Barack Obama was dead.

Fox News alerted the Secret Service about the hacking of the FoxNewsPolitics account early on Monday, and requested a detailed investigation from Twitter into the matter.

Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie said on Monday that the law enforcement agency would look into the false postings and conduct the appropriate follow-up.

The tweets stated that Obama was shot twice in the lower pelvic area and in the neck. He then bled out and died. The shooter remains at large.

The first tweet, which appeared at around 2 a.m. PDT, read, @BarackObama has just passed. The President is dead. A sad 4th of July, indeed. President Barack Obama is dead.

Followed by, @BarackObamahas just passed. Nearly 45 minutes ago, he was shot twice in the lower pelvic area and in the neck; shooter unknown. Bled out

After a series of false tweets, hackers sent the last tweet saying that Joe Biden was selected as the new President of the United States.

We wish @joebiden the best of luck as our new President of the United States. In such a time of madness, there's light at the end of tunnel.

A group of hackers associated with the Bill O'Reilly-decorated Twitter account @TheScriptKiddie (since suspended), which claims to be associated with hacker group Anonymous, claimed responsibility.

In an interview with Stony Brook University's Think Magazine (before the hacking was perpetrated), a member of the group said:

I would consider us to be close in relation [to Anonymous], 2 of the members of our group were members of Anonymous. I was a member of Anonymous. We hope to be working with them soon.

Regarding Fox News, the member said:

We are looking to find information about corporations to assist with antisec. Fox News was selected because we figured their security would be just as much of a joke as their reporting.