Sigh. Well, this is embarrassing.
Old security-conscious me got my Twitter account hacked. More later when I figure out exactly how I stumbled into that. (Started with a perfectly innocuous direct message from someone I follow — which of course wasn’t actually from that person.)
But if you follow me on Twitter, know that I’m not tweeting about marvelous new weight-loss products. Do not click on any such links or any links in any direct message purporting to be from me! And if you’re one of the zillion people who just sent me a DM wanting to get it on or hook up with me, I’m (not) flattered — BUT CHANGE YOUR FREAKING PASSWORD RIGHT NOW.
I’ll try not to laugh 😉 Never click on links in emails. Using a text-only email client makes this easier for me, except that one time I forgot.
Could of been a snitch. Tweeting is for the birds.
LOL, I had 2 of those DMs from you this morning…
Yeah, it’s that “one time I forgot” thing that’ll bite ya.
Go ahead and laugh. It’s true. I fell for a really dumb trick. No excuses. Except … well, I blame Facebook.
More later.
One thing I don’t understand, and I hope some Twitter maven can explain … this morning I had 50 or 60 direct messages (DM), all with very recognizably spammy messages. About half were from people I follow on Twitter. About half were from people I never heard of, definitely don’t follow, and who don’t follow me.
Since Twitter has a (sensible) policy that you can DM only those who’ve chosen to follow you, I didn’t even think it was possible to get DMs from the accounts of others.
Anybody understand that part of what happened?
I was thinking anyone can send anyone 1 DM whether they follow or not. I’ve had random “Follow me” direct messages from people I didn’t follow.
I’m glad it was a hacking and that you weren’t for some reason resorting to alternative forms of revenue 😉
But speaking of revenue, I’d fork over a Benjamin just to hear you say the always-pithy “too early to shoot the bastards” quote live! (“Just a Benji?!” you say? Wish I had more disposable income; then again, I’d probably spend it on ammo and prepping….)
Recently I started to get all sorts of spam on my twitter account so the other day I closed it. Didn’t reallt like the darn thing anyway. 🙂
You are right about the DMs… I just checked and it must have changed in the last couple years.
I got the “hookup” message from you, Claire. As much as I love you, I really don’t think of you that way :p
It breaks my heart, Ellendra. But understood. Besides, what with all the “hook up” requests I received this morning, I could be a very busy girl even after your rejection.
And as ::G suggests, earning many Benjamins. 😉
::G LOL, does it really have to be live?
Oh well, ammo is really a better cause, anyhow …
Maybe it was a stool pigeon tweeting.
Lol, I found it amusing this morning to learn you had seen a crazy post about me and then had the perfect certain type of match for me. Oh my, lol. I’m used to getting weird spammy messages from other folks’ accounts so I had no problem deleting them away 🙂
I don’t have a twiddle account. I do read your blog every day that you post something on it.
Glad this got squared-away.
Fortunately the crackers and clickjackers are more resourceful than actually bright. I’m far from expert on phishing, yet the DMs they sent via your account were painfully apparent as such to me.
Victor — You are 100% right that the messages they sent FROM my account were transparently evil. So were the DMs that flooded in this morning from other compromised accounts (some, unfortunately, compromised by ME). Unfortunately, the first direct message sent TO my account — the one I messed up with — looked as legit as can be. Nothing about sex or weight loss anything like that.
Oh, I was an idiot for going through the whole process that gave them my login. No doubt about that. But that message? Looked as good as gold — though perhaps a more experienced Twitter user would have suspected it.
Also, Survival Kyle, the person whose compromised account tripped me up, still doesn’t seem to have realized his account has been taken over. “He” is still tweeting about miraculous weight-loss products. So if you follow him, beware.
Sigh.
Claire: Ah, I was thinking that’d ensure the genuine article. (Assuming I could drum up enough other locals to make the endeavor worth your while, of course.) But I wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell you from a proxy–well, you’re obviously the careful sort, being able to retain your anonymity for as long as you have!
i feel bad. I never got a “lets hook up” DM. All i got was “Yo, some guy is talking $&!% about U!”
Not even a “I want to help you lose weight” DM. Sigh.
But hearing that Claire’s account was hacked helps ease the sting.