Photo: Screenshot of Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono's Twitter account

Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono expressed outrage Saturday over a fake Twitter account under his name that claimed the island of Taiwan donated 500,000 masks to Japan amid the COVID-19 epidemic.

"I'm angry! Who is spreading this fake information?" Kono said Saturday on his real Twitter account where he reposted a story from news website Yahoo! Japan that dismissed the information.

The fake tweet was posted on an account that used Kono's name and photo. The controversial fake tweet read, "500,000 masks from Taiwan has arrived [in Japan] safely, I wish Taiwan to be safe," according to a Japanese report.

The fake tweet went viral and received more than 6,000 retweets and likes, the report said, noting that Kono had nothing to do with it. 

The fake Twitter account was being abused in Taiwan, according to the report.  

The report also said that since the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19), Taiwan has experienced a medical face mask shortage.