As cryptocurrencies have become increasingly popular so have the scams associated with digital currencies. Even tech luminaries like Steve Wozniak have fallen prey to such scams and social media companies are having to come to terms with this reality. Facebook is already doing its part to ensure that such scams don’t find root on its platform and now Twitter is taking similar steps to weed out cryptocurrency scams from its network.
A trend has emerged on Twitter recently whereby users are impersonating popular tech figures such as Elon Musk, John McAfee, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Deceptive tactics such as misspelled usernames and same or similar avatars are used to give the impression that the account is legitimate.
Tweets are then sent out to tell followers that if they send a small amount of digital currency to them they, meaning Musk, McAfee or Buterin, would send them a much bigger amount in return. While a lot of people will immediately know that this can’t be true, unfortunately, there are many who still fall prey to such simple scams.
Twitter is now gradually suspending accounts that are found to be participating in such scams. The company said in a statement that “We’re aware of this form of manipulation and are proactively implementing a number of signals to prevent these types of accounts from engaging with others in a deceptive manner.”
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