How to Protect Yourself from Scams on Twitter
Scammers are everywhere nowadays — Especially on Twitter and they mostly target blockchain enthusiasts. Learn how you can protect yourself from such.
The rate of scam activity on Twitter has significantly increased, especially that which targets blockchain enthusiasts. Whether this can be attributed to more savvy methods by scammers, carelessness on the part of victims or both is a different topic, however, what can be agreed on is that no one deserves to go through the agony of losing their hard-earned money to scammers.
Watch out Crypto enthusiasts
Scam activity in the Blockchain industry are not quite unexpected from an industry that is estimated at $56.7 billion and annual growth rate of 56.9% according to Businesswire, one of the leading research outlets in the world.
Twitter is one of the platforms used by crypto brands, influencers and individuals for community building, customer support, and marketing purposes.
With over 29.5 million active monthly users worldwide. The Reach of this social media network is wide.
Popular scams on Twitter
As a cryptocurrency enthusiast on Twitter, the likelihood of having encountered these scam activities are high. If you are a newbie it’s wise to note it and avoid being swindled.
Cloning brand handles
A lot of scammers tend to create clones of popular brands, especially when they are not verified on Twitter. They’ll send you an email or offer support tasks. This is highly popular, however for the verified handles, this might not be a problem. However, some still use a verified badge to try and cajole you.
Some of the things they try to steal from you are Passphrase, security details etc.
Tutoring Scam
These type of scammers poses on social media as experts on cryptocurrency issues. They give tips on Twitter on how to trade. Don’t be surprised if they also give security tips on how to avoid being scammed on Twitter.
These techniques also include sharing a screenshot of imaginary wins on Twitter, this is carefully done in order to generate leads and bring newbies into their den and scam them either via collecting funds in exchange for tutorials and sometimes having access to private details like seedphrase.
Sending of Malicious Link
Scammers always try to use malicious link tactics to scam you. This comes by sending malicious links to your DM or the timeline. This is most common especially if you make a complaint on the Timeline about a brand not responding to your support tickets. Sometimes complain conversations in a thread are even staged to make the target believe it’s a common issue that can be resolved quickly.
If you are a newbie or expert in the industry, you can fall into this trap.
This method is convenient especially since a lot of brands on Twitter that have large followings might not be able to track all companies on the timeline or if you can’t verify if the person offering help is a member of the brands’ support.
These links serve as a means to steal certain information like Seedphrase, passwords, and security question details from you.
Romance Scam
Once a “Tinder swindler” exists, then a “Twitter Swindler” is not far off. If the last statement seems vague to you kindly watch Tinder swindler on Netflix and gain insight into how romance scams are perpetrated. There are various swindlers all about, you might just be a DM away from a “Twitter Swindler”. A romance scam is an age-long scam. However, it’s still one of the popular ways of scamming.
How to protect yourself
We have been able to establish the various ways scammers operate on Twitter. This section will arm you with the ways you can keep yourself protected against scammers.
Use-two factor authorization
Two-factor authorization always wins. This is like giving extra security to your house. Enable 2FA authorization on your exchanges and also your Twitter account.
If you are a popular person on Twitter, your account can be hacked and be used to scam unsuspecting people.
The following steps will help you to activate 2-FA on your Twitter account.
- Click on the “Settings and privacy” link. (Image 1)
- Click on “Security and account access” (Image 2)
- Click on “Security” (Image 3)
- Activate 2-FA authorization (Image 4)
This action is a good step toward keeping your account safe on Twitter.
Control message settings
This is very important to protect yourself from malicious links in your DM. You can set your setting to either allow the people you follow to message you or filter messages from strangers or disable your message receive option.
The following steps will help you to control the message setting on your Twitter account.
- Go to “Settings and privacy” (Image 5)
- Click on “Privacy and safety” (Image 6)
- Click on “Direct messages” (Image 7)
- Use either “Allow message request” or “Filter low-quality messages” (Image 8)
Double Check name spelling
Most branded accounts have a verification tick. Should the account that you are having issues with doesn’t have a verification badge, it is important to double-check spelling properly. For due diligence, it’s advisable to go to the official website and confirm the authenticity of the account in the footer section of the website.
Conclusion
Your security is your responsibility. It is better to safeguard yourself from scammers, than trying to look for ways to recover your funds. For extra protection for your crypto coins, it’s advisable to use the AirGap Wallet and Vault.
Download AirGap
AirGap Wallet
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📱 Android — Google Play (GitHub APK)
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AirGap Vault
📱 iOS — App Store
📱 Android — Google Play (GitHub APK)
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