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French president recovers from Facebook hack

Zut alors

The Facebook account of Nicolas Sarkozy was hacked over the weekend to post the false rumour that the French president would not seek re-election next year.

The badly spelt update claimed that Sarkozy had decided not to seek re-election in response to the "exceptional circumstances facing our country".

The post linked to another Facebook page, entitled Farewell to Nicolas Sarkozy, implausibly inviting supporters to meet up outside Le Fouquet's restaurant in Paris on 6 May 2012 for an "end-of-term party".

Of course the whole thing was a load of cobblers, as confirmed on Monday when an update to the page confirmed that Le Pres's Facebook page had become the victim of mischievous hackers. It's unclear how the account was compromised in the first place, but some breach of password security would seem to be the most likely explanation.

The French president has already been a victim of hackers.

Sarkozy's online bank account was looted back in September 2008, possibly using stolen login credentials. Sarkozy's father and his first wife, Marie-Dominique Culioli, were among the victims of the scam, which involved fraudulent mobile phone top-up purchases. Six suspects were arrested over the alleged scam a month later in October 2008. ®

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