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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Michelle Cullen

Twitter users warned not to click suspicious link after accounts taken over by scammers

Twitter users have been warned of the latest scam taking social media by storm.

The sinister plot sees scammers posing as Twitter employees in order to try and get hold of log-in details and other personal information from users.

A number of verified users on the platform, including journalists, have reported receiving direct messages (DMs) which claimed that their account would be permanently removed as they failed to comply with Twitter’s policies.

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The scam message then asks users to click on the appeal form below if they do not agree with the ruling.

The messages came from an account labelled Sinead O’Shea, claiming to be a Twitter Violation Community Notification.

In this photo illustration, a Twitter logo is displayed on a smartphone. (gettyimages.ie)

It reads: “Twitter Violation | Community Notification

“Case ID ; …

“Your account will be permanently removed for failing to comply with our policies.

“Since your account is a verified account, it had to comply with our policies.

“If you think that our decision was an error and misunderstanding, please return to us from the appeal form.”

It then offers a fake link before concluding: “Twitter Community

“Thanks”.

Irish Examiner journalist Colm O’ Gorman took to Twitter to warn others.

He said: “Folks, if you get a DM like this from a regular account but purporting to be from @Twitter, do not respond or click on any links. It seems to be doing the rounds and is an obvious hack - note the bad grammar for example.”

He added: “Looks like a fair few people have had their accounts taken over having clicked on links. Don’t click on any links or engage with the message. Delete it.”

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