I’ve been using Twitter for months now and I love the site. Having to say things in 140 characters or less is great practice for a writer. So too is getting to chat to people you would never get to meet on the non-cyber world.
Something happened to shatter my cosy image of Twitter. I got a message the other day.
It was from a direct message from someone I followed, saying that someone was posting nasty things about me on Twitter. There was a link in the DM that was sent straight to my email. I didn’t click it, because I knew something was wrong.
I am posting a copy of the message below (you'll need to click on it to make it bigger - trust me, this is safe) -
I am posting a copy of the message below (you'll need to click on it to make it bigger - trust me, this is safe) -
Note - I have blanked out the user names.
I looked on Twitter and couldn’t find any evidence of anyone bad mouthing me. Then I checked out the user who had ‘sent’ me the DM and it was clear from their posts that their account had been hacked.
I now believe the DM was an attempt to get me to click on a link that would put a virus on my computer.
Today, I got another one. This one read - “I can’t believe you posted this http://t.co/nX2Z7oC about me, i am so upset right now.”
Again, notice the inflammatory nature of the message. They want you to think something is up and click on that link without thinking.
How do you deal with this when accounts are being hacked and when on Twitter people post links all the time? I don’t honestly know. Having a good virus checker will help and using in regularly.
Protecting your password and changing it constantly, may also help.
From now on I will be very careful when it comes to Twitter and I hope you will too. Don’t let those spoilers waste it for you.
I had a weird email from someone new following me on Twitter with a link. Luckily I didn't click on it.
ReplyDeleteI can see how it would be easy to fool for this - the brevity of Twitter encourages quick reactions and responses.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the warning, Jennifer - I'll watch out for this.
ReplyDeleteThis sort of thing is very common. Clicking the link would have taken you to a page asking you to log in to Twitter again and the perpetrators would have YOUR details too, and then you'd be sending out DMs to your followers unknowingly.
ReplyDeleteBest advice is never click on links without verifying the source first.