Twitter Attempts To Curb Crypto Scams
With the execution of different cryptocurrency-related scams on its platform, social media website Twitter is taking steps to prevent and stop the spread of misleading and probable catastrophic misinformation.
A report by Bloomberg recorded that a Twitter spokesman admitted that the company has knowledge of the crypto-related “manipulation”, and confirmed that steps were being taken to “prevent these types of accounts from engaging with others in a deceptive manner.”
Multiple scams are popping up on social media due to the cryptocurrency boom and Twitter scams have been rampant of late as frauds take advantage of numerous loopholes. Formally, scammers would create accounts in the very likeness to the original ones belonging to famous crypto personalities, Charlie Lee, Vitalik Buterin and John McAfree, included.
Later, scammers would leave comments on high engagement Tweets by these celebrities, claiming they’re running either a giveaway or a contest where people who send a certain amount of LTC, BTC or ETH to their address would receive times two of that amount and so on.
Considering that the fake tweets would be liked as well as retweeted by many other fake accounts, they would start showing up at the top, right under the original Tweets, leading to many innocent users becoming a casualty to these scams.
Another ploy frequently used by the scammers is hacking or buying Twitter verified accounts, and later changing their display pictures as well as names to match existing high-profile accounts, after which they move on to lure the community into sending them crypto as part of a giveaway or contest.
Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO recently commented on the issue, in response to a Tweet concerning crypto scams, Dorsey declared: “We are on it.”
Due to the hazards of extortion and scams associated with cryptocurrencies, social media websites such as Facebook and Instagram have banned crypto and initial coin offering related ads on their platforms. Presently however, these bans are far from airtight.
