Twitter fake out? Possible pranksters may have posed as fired data engineers

Two men claiming they were Twitter data engineers recently let go under Elon Musk's reign may have been lying to the media. 

The potential pranksters were spotted outside Twitter's San Francisco office Friday carrying cardboard boxes just a day after Musk took control of Twitter for the hefty ticket price of $44 billion and ousted its top executives. 

One of the alleged employees identified themselves as a software engineer named "Rahul Ligma" during an interview with reporters outside, according to the Verge. However, the outlet confirmed that an employee by that name was not in Twitter’s Slack or email system and that there is no employee by that name on the online employment service LinkedIn. 

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Representatives for Twitter have not immediately return FOX Business' request for comment. 

"Some questions being raised about whether these are really twitter employees. Still trying to verify," Deirdre Bosa, co-anchor of CNBC's bi-coastal tech-focused program "TechCheck," tweeted Friday.  

Earlier, reports started circulating on social media that an entire team of data engineers had been the next to get fired since Musk took over. 

On Thursday, CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and Chief Legal Counsel Vijaya Gadde were told to pack their things, according to two people familiar with the deal. 

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That same day, Musk, who self-proclaimed himself "Chief Twit" on his Twitter page, told his followers that "the bird is freed," which is an apparent reference to the company's logo. 

Musk – dubbed the wealthiest man in the world by Forbes – had already warned investors earlier this month that layoffs would come once he took control of the social networking company. 

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According to The Washington Post, Musk told prospective investors that he planned to cut 75% of the workforce. The newspaper cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberations.

Musk's takeover means Twitter is becoming a private company that everyday investors will no longer be able to buy shares in. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.