Security experts have warned that TwitPic, a site used by Twitter members to share images, can be used to hijack the micro-blogging service.
Hackers managed to hack the TwitPic account of the official Britney Spears Twitter feed and post messages claiming the star was dead.
"Britney has passed today. It is a sad day for everyone. More news to come," said one of the tweets.
Hackers managed to post the message, which has now been deleted, on Spears' Twitter feed by hijacking the TwitPic photo-sharing website.
According to Graham Cluley of security firm Sophos, hackers probably managed to crack a four-digit PIN code used to protect the TwitPic email addresses which members can simply send an email to in order to post a message, or tweet, on Twitter.
"This kind of vulnerability goes to show how simple it can be for hackers to break into accounts, which could then be used to expose followers to malicious web links containing malware or phishing pages," said Cluley.
"Although users should continue to be very careful when clicking on links in tweets, especially ones that have been obfuscated by link shortening services, this attack has demonstrated that services like TwitPic need to be doing more to protect their users," he continued.
The fake news reports come just days after the death of Michael Jackson was announced.
