It’s the purrfect crime.
Video screens on several Oregon Lottery billboards were apparently hacked by furries, who posted a video of a cartoon of a human-like cat playing around, according to a report.
The LED screens of at least seven billboards across the state that typically display the latest Powerball Jackpot were instead playing a bizarre animated clip of furry art, KOIN reported.
One of the hacked billboards in Portland was posted by Reddit user “ HanginWithMrPooper” showing a animation of what appeared to be a cat with a human face playing with someone with cat-like arms.
“We are working with our vendor to resolve an issue related to the digital display on our billboards,” Oregon Lottery spokesperson Melanie Mesaros told KOIN.
Matching artwork posted to the internet is credited to furry artist @SH_4RK. Several replies on the artist’s tweets show similar billboard takeovers that appeared to occur at the same in other parts of the country — much to the artist’s surprise.
“Wait that’s my art hello,” the artist tweeted in response to the circulating billboard photos.
The billboard is owned in the viral clip is owned by Meadow Outdoor Advertising and paid for by the Oregon Lottery — however neither party said the display is their fault.
Daktronics, a third-party vendor which operates the LED sign was the sources of the problem, Mesaros told the outlet.
“This was a global issue for the vendor Daktronics, which operates the LED screens,” Mesaros said.
The artwork was up from between Aug. 12 and Aug. 14 before the issue was fixed.
The Post has reached out to Daktronics for comment on the potential hack.
Meadow Outdoor Advertising told KOIN that it has no control over the LED display. They expect to meet with Oregon Lottery officials and representatives from Daktronics in the coming days.
“We will have a good debrief with the Lottery and Daktronics to understand what happened,” company manager Betsy Hege said.
