TwitterWatchDog.com

Twitter Scam Alert Update

- by Timothy Caron

As you have heard from our previous post, we mentioned that Twitter Scams are Rampant (Ooops not Rampart, thanks Gail), and we’d like to point out that we have provided a few of many scams that you’ll find floating around on Twitter.

So, let’s get down to the nitty gritty.

As reported by PCWorld

Aurora stated:

Security Alert: Twitter Porn Names Scam

The “Twitter porn names” game, currently Twitter’s top-trending topic (things that are twittered the most), may be a fun distraction that gives you and your friends something to tweet about. But it also has a security hole — one that is no technical snafu. It could be simple human error, but it’s also possible that this security hole is an example of truly sneaky social engineering.

As reported by Twittercism.com

TweeterGetter

Who’s Behind It: Gary McCaffrey
The Blurb: “Imagine you got 1 twitter follower today, and that number doubled every day for 1 month, how many followers do you think you would have? The correct answer is: Over 10 million followers!”

TweeterGetter is, I think, the granddaddy of all of these systems, which means that it’s also largely responsible for the rest. You’ve inevitably seen tweets like this pop up in your timeline:

Shéa Bennett the founder of Twittercism has a huge list of scammers on his blog, and he put’s quite a twist on the word scammmer, and it’s not always the money.

Some of the more obvious scams like earning money fast while gaining more followers, in my opinion are simply bogus. Below are some tips you can take to prepare and protect yourself from these sneeky little creeps.

Twitter Scams

The first step is to educate yourself. Here are some Twitter scams to watch out for:

• Worms: According to Twitter and security industry officials, the Mikeyy worm used a common Website programming language called JavaScript to infiltrate and take over Twitter accounts. Other worms use known vulnerabilities in JavaScript to spread malware on PCs.

• Phishing attacks: According to Twitter, recent phishing attacks looked like a direct message (DM) or email notice of a DM instructing someone to click on what appears to be a link back to the service. But, in reality the link went to a phishing site that asked for personal information like an account password. Phishers used the divulged passwords to take over people’s accounts.

• Spam: Scams hawking get-rich quick schemes, multi-level marketing opportunities and other questionable businesses that flood email inboxes and blogs are all over Twitter. One of the latest: a phony Twitter account that tricks people into a Google scam by promising them the chance to win a new car.

We will continue to search out other scams. If you know of one please let us know, or even if you think it is, bring it to our attention and we’ll check it out for you. The gang here at Twitterwatchdog wants to help you in anyway we can, to have a safe experience on Twitter.

Until next time, be on guard with the Twitterwatchdog.

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The Twitter Scams are Rampant!

Don't Get Scammed!

Hi everyone, we all know that scams and fraudulent websites are all over the internet and believe it or not even on Twitter.

It doesn’t take much research to find out, that many websites all over the internet are already jumping on the bandwagon to uncover these sneaky little masterminds.

Today, I was doing a little browsing on the internet, and according to Google to stats are in for the search term “twitter scams” and they are:

Results 1 – 10 of about 17,900,000 for twitter scams. (0.19 seconds)
Can you believe this over 17.p million searches were returned, Holy Cow!

One website hit the top of the list, and that was from the Better Business Bureau, and they warn against the Slimy Twitter Scams.

Here’s an excerpt from the BBB
Arlington, VA- July 7, 2009- Through Tweets, e-mail and Web sites, job hunters are being told that they can make lots of money from the comfort of home using Twitter and Better Business Bureau warns that the large print for such offers may promise big returns but the fine print can cost them every month.

You can read more of the article here.

Even Chris Pirillo of chris.pirillo.com talks about some DM’s that he got claiming to have found his picture on a particular website, which when the link in the DM was clicked, it would take you to a bogus Twitter Login page asking for your credentials. He also encourages you not to login to any Twitter Application website using your twitter username and password without doing your due diligence.

So, with that said, please take a second look at the application that you want to use to help you with your activities on Twitter, if you don’t you may end up being a victim of the “Twitter Scams”

Until next time, be on guard with TwitterWatchdog.com

Get instant Twitter Watchdog Secrets, Tips and Tools that will help maximize both your personal and professional Twitter experience. Just enter your name and email address now.

Follow Skeeter Hansen @SkeeterHansen

Follow Al Ferretti @AlFerretti