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Don't Click: New Twitter Phishing Scam Targets Users Through DMs

Written by Frederic Lardinois / September 23, 2009 11:38 AM / 10 Comments

TwitterA lot of Twitter users are currently getting this direct message: "rofl this you on here?" and a URL. It's the latest in a series of phishing scams that have been making the rounds on Twitter lately. The link in this message will take you to a Twitter login page that looks almost like the real thing but is actually just a way for the phishers to harvest your login credentials. Once the scammers have access to your account, they will send out more of these messages to your friends.

It is currently hard to say if this is just a bit of a prank or if there are more nefarious motives behind this. The domain name used in the scam was only registered today. The user who registered the domain is from China and his email address has been linked to a number of similar scams.

twitter-phish_sep09.pngUnlike most previous phishing scams, these messages arrive as DMs from people you probably know and trust, so it's quite easy to fall for this one. For now, just remember to make sure you check what links you click on and if somebody asks you if that's really you in the video, just assume it's not and move on.

If you already fell for the scam, make sure you change your Twitter password immediately.


Comments

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  1. Seriously, there are people that actually fall for this stuff?

    Posted by: Jeff | September 23, 2009 12:08 PM



  2. I can't believe people still fall for this. Check the Address Bar before you sign in people....

    Posted by: Paper | September 23, 2009 12:14 PM



  3. Thank you very much for the useful info! I'll be sure to look out for that message.

    Posted by: Aysel Vandeventer | September 23, 2009 12:59 PM



  4. I get a lot of spam bots coming from china and russia [.cn & .ru] and they get deleted right away, it's all about medication and porn.

    You'd think the Chinese government would have gotten a lock on this bad behavior? They get people for doing far less than these types of crimes.

    Posted by: TK | September 23, 2009 5:14 PM



  5. I started Cleaning out my Twitter Account today because of So many DM's,there are Some Applications that I am using but I am Getting Rid of them,because they Attract the Wrong kind of People to My profile.

    Posted by: chris | September 23, 2009 5:16 PM



  6. Unfortunatley people do fall for these ploys. New media old tricks.

    Posted by: Daniel | September 23, 2009 5:18 PM



  7. Thanks for the warning.

    Posted by: Laney Landry | September 23, 2009 6:26 PM



  8. I can't believe that there are people out there that don't believe people fall for stuff like this.

    Some people are just not that tech savvy.

     Posted by: Craig Author Profile Page | September 23, 2009 8:31 PM



  9. I can see how people would fall for this. First it is sent from someone they know and trust, secondly the URL has secure login in it which creates even more security.

    Thanks for posting on this as I'm sure it'll help some people not to fall for this.

    Posted by: Marilyn | September 23, 2009 8:52 PM



  10. Wow!! It's really a wonderful article & it seems very helpful to me.. Its a good infomercial article, thanks for posting this nice article overhere.. Keep posting this type of updated article..

    Posted by: jeux d'action | September 24, 2009 12:57 AM



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