Twitter Helps Wage the War on Phishing Scams
Over the last few years Twitter has grown monumentally which means that the amount of scammers attempting to use the platform to victimize individuals has also increased. Scammers employ various phishing schemes through using the technology of Twitter directly, but also through something called “social engineering.” In a direct effort to protect its users, Twitter has since implemented many of the same security measures used with email and web browsing.
More and more we hear about Twitter spam, which a hot trend among scammers these days. Most of the time this particular scam involves making a quick buck from home and the most frequent of victims are those that aren’t familiar with the Web and are desperate to make a little extra money on the side.
In an effort to protect consumers the Better Business Bureau (BBB) has sent out warnings against Twitter scams. These scams claim to teach people how to make loads of money with Twitter. Within these warnings from the BBB specific websites that seem to be at the heart of such scams are called out. The main similarity between these is that they claim to provide a very lucrative income for very little work. The other hook is that victims usually need to purchase training or instructional materials in order to get started.
Despite the BBB’s efforts to warn the public, the depths of the phishing scams involving Twitter seems to be growing. Almost everyday there is a new Twitter scam popping up, or an old one reemerging with a new twist. And every time we turn around, there seems to be a new warning about avoiding this link or that.
One of the most prominent Twitter scams in recent times involves victims receiving a direct message claiming that they are featured in a video and includes a link. The link leads to a landing page that looks like the log in page for Twitter but isn’t. (Simply look at the address bar to see that you aren’t even on Twitter’s site!) Logging into the bogus site will allow scammers access to your account to continue their scamming ways.
Because Twitter is always on the cutting edge, new security features are always being introduced and perfected. Previously, Twitter had a dedicated spam identification feature where users could make reports to @spam, but this method wasn’t very visible. Now there’s a way to report spam accounts easily right on the side of profile pages. This is much easier and more direct.
Though the new Twitter spam reporting feature will help, it is far from perfection. However, it does allow users to fight back against phishing scams. Hopefully, the spammy messages that you have a new follower will be reduced significantly once everyone takes advantage of the new and improved spam reporting process. And just remember, no matter what security measures are in place, spammers are savvy and will find new ways to attack. So be careful before clicking any links or falling for any lures for making money fast.
6 Responses to “Twitter Helps Wage the War on Phishing Scams”
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Its good to see they are making some effort, but like you said the scams will never end.
Along the same lines as this story, http://www.twitter.com got accounts phished on sunday. I guess no site is unbreakable.
Definitely agree with what you stated. Your explanation was certainly the easiest to understand. I tell you, I usually get irked when folks discuss issues that they plainly do not know about. You managed to hit the nail right on the head and explained out everything without complication. Maybe, people can take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks
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