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Zac Efron

Zac Efron gets hacked before 'Neighbors' premiere

Andrea Mandell
USA TODAY
Zac Efron at the 2014 MTV Movie Awards.

LOS ANGELES-- How savvy are celeb hackers these days?

The one who hacked Zac Efron on Monday went so far as to steal his personal assistant's identity to reach out to a USA TODAY photographer for official photos.

"Hi I'm Zac's assistant," wrote the ghost hacker, addressing a text personally to a staff photographer. "He was wondering if you can send a copy of the photo shoot you took of him for USA Today. My email is [redacted]."

The only problem – Efron's assistant never sent that e-mail. The bold intrusion is nothing new for the popular actor, who has over 8 million followers on Twitter and a buzzy new comedy, Neighbors (out May 9), on his hands.

"Friends will say, 'Great talk yesterday,'" says Efron. "And I'll go, 'We didn't talk yesterday?'" He shrugs. The hacking is "not every day but it's pretty much constant."

Hackers will go so far as to converse with Efron's parents via text, and reach out to his distant relatives. "(A) whole side of the family I really don't know very well is in constant contact with 'me' and 'friends of mine,'" he says. The result? "I'm not on my phone a lot."

"It's really strange," Efron allows, but he's nevertheless in good spirits, focusing his energy on bringing his bromance with Seth Rogen to Neighbors' frat-tastic premiere in Westwood tonight. "I'm kind of removed from it because if I kept thinking about it, I was going to drive myself crazy."

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