If you follow me on Twitter you’ll likely see me tweet at least once a day something like this:
“Today’s DM Phishing Scam “Today’s DM Phishing Scam ‘lmao! this pic i found of you cracks me up when was it taken?’ DON’T Click the link. Pls RT!’”
I do that daily because I was tricked once and had my account hacked. What’s a phishing attack and what do you do when you’re tricked by one? Here’s what to do when it happens…
What is a phishing scam?
A phishing scam is when you click a link and you’re taken to a site that looks exactly like the site you expect. On twitter, the link takes you to a site that looks like the front login page for Twitter. This is highly effective for people who use a third party app like TweetDeck or HootSuite because it loads a new browser window and unless you check the url bar, you’ll never see a difference. (The url bar is the place you type http://www…) If you’re on the real Twitter you’ll see http://twitter.com. When you click the phishing link it will be a long ugly url that doesn’t make any sense.
Now the goal of most Twitter phishing scams is to get your username and password. Once you enter it on the fake site they have it.
The good news is they generally want to stay unnoticed because they want to use your account to spam or follow as much as possible. So you’ll not generally be locked out of your account.
That’s why another thing I do is send a quick DM to people whose accounts send me a phishing link that there account has been hacked.
What to Do When Your Twitter Account is Hacked
As long as you have access to your account (when I was hacked, they changed my password) all you have to do is change your password (Settings – Password) and then go your applications and remove any you don’t trust (Settings – Applications). Honestly, for most people the safest thing to do is remove all the applications and reauthorize the ones you use as you use them. For me, that’s a little too many as I have a lot of things automated. So I just go through my applications regularly and remove ones I don’t use anymore.
IF your account is hacked and they’ve changed your password, follow the instructions I give in Twitter Tips from @revtrev you can download it for free.
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What Do You Do When Your Twitter Account Gets Hacked? http://t.co/XLDCHFDA
What Do You Do When Your Twitter Account Gets Hacked? http://t.co/XLDCHFDA
"@revtrev: What Do You Do When Your Twitter Account Gets Hacked? http://t.co/qF29Wvy4"
What Do You Do When Your Twitter Account Gets Hacked? http://t.co/XLDCHFDA
Great advice for Twitter users. @revtrev: Here's What You Do When Your Twitter Account Gets Hacked http://t.co/eemZtvM4
What Do You Do When Your Twitter Account Gets Hacked? http://t.co/XLDCHFDA
What Do You Do When Your Twitter Account Gets Hacked? http://t.co/XLDCHFDA
Here's What To Do When Your Twitter Account Gets Hacked – http://t.co/XLDCHFDA
Here's What To Do When Your Twitter Account Gets Hacked – http://t.co/XLDCHFDA
Here's What To Do When Your Twitter Account Gets Hacked – http://t.co/XLDCHFDA
When your account has been hacked and you're sending phishing spam. Here's what to do http://t.co/ku8gfhT9
When your account has been hacked and you're sending phishing spam. Here's what to do http://t.co/XLDCHFDA
When your account has been hacked and you're sending phishing spam. Here's what to do http://t.co/XLDCHFDA
When your account has been hacked and you're sending phishing spam. Here's what to do http://t.co/ku8gfhT9
When your account has been hacked and you're sending phishing spam. Here's what to do http://t.co/DACmmOAH
When your account has been hacked and you're sending phishing spam. Here's what to do http://t.co/XLDCHFDA
RT @revtrev: What Do You Do When Your Twitter Account Gets Hacked? http://t.co/v1kOF0a4
What Do You Do When Your Twitter Account Gets Hacked? http://t.co/XLDCHFDA
What Do You Do When Your Twitter Account Gets Hacked? http://t.co/XLDCHFDA
Today's DM Phishing Scam "Found a funny picture of you!" DON'T Click the link. I explain why here – http://t.co/DACmmOAH
Today's DM Phishing Scam "Found a funny picture of you!" DON'T Click the link. I explain why here – http://t.co/ku8gfhT9