Spears falls victim to Twitter death hoax

Britney Spears has assured her fans that she is alive and well after a hacker accessed her Twitter account and claimed that she was dead.

The 'Womanizer' star fell victim to the hoax on Saturday, when an unknown individual used the Twitpic service to post the morbid message. Television presenter Ellen DeGeneres was also targeted.

However, a statement posted on Spears's page today said: "Britney’s Twitter was just hacked. The last message is obviously not true. She is fine and dandy spending a quiet day at home relaxing."

This is not the first time that Spears has been targeted by hackers. Earlier this year, the singer issued an apology after a web user calling himself Hacker Croll managed to post an obscene message on her Twitter blog.