Social networking rapidly has become both a gift and a curse. Being able to connect with friends from around the world, meet new and exciting people, and see what celebrities are doing in their free time is splendid, but the constant exposure of your own life can leave you more vulnerable to scams than ever before. Twitter is a website that allows its users to post statuses about themselves and read others’. For users of this social network, being informed about potential scams can mean the difference between an empty and a full bank account. The following list details three common Twitter scams.
- Spyware scams: Using the “@” symbol, any Twitter user can speak to another user specifically. In one scam, fake users will send you a tweet saying something to the effect of “Check out this cool photo of you!” The scammer will pretend he knows you to get you to click on a link. That link will take you to a website that infects your system with a virus. Scammers can also take over real users’ accounts to fool you.
- Phishing scams: The phishing scams on Twitter are much like the spyware and virus scams. A fake user will get you to click on a link that will take you to a site that requests you to sign in. Sometimes this can be a replicated Twitter website or some other social networking site. The phishers want passwords so they can use your account to spam in higher volumes and ultimately discover more confidential information such as Social Security and bank account numbers.
- Follower scams: Some users view Twitter as a way to get their name out and advertise themselves. In this respect, the more “followers” you have on the site, the better. The follower scam takes advantage of these types of users. The scammer will promise that if you sign up on another site and pay a small fee, you will gain thousands of followers instantly. If you do sign up and gain a load of followers, Twitter could identify you as a spammer and deactivate your account.