“TWITTER: Someone has a crush on you!” the subject of the email says as it announces that someone has a Tweetcrush on you. “You have been sent a Twitter Crush,” it goes on to say. Bologna. It’s a phishing scam, pure and simple. But, it’s a pretty compelling one, given how ‘authentic’ the site, which is hosted at ktwitteri.com, looks, where they steal your Twitter username and password.
The full email is pretty short, and reads simply:
TWITTER: Someone has a crush on you!
You have been sent a Twitter Crush, Find out who! twitter[dot]com/twitter_secret_crush/_authenticate.htm
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If you are a regular reader of The Internet Patrol, you probably already guessed that the ‘http://twitter.com/twitter_secret_crush/_authenticate.htm’ doesn’t really go to Twitter.com, and you’d be right.
It goes to ktwitteri[dot]com/twitter_secret_crush/_authenticate.htm
…where you will find a very legitimate seeming page, that looks like this:
You may even be tempted to submit your username and password, but don’t!
Says Internet security site, McAfee, “Don’t be fooled. This is a typosquatted imitation of Twitter login page (e.g. ktwitteri.com/timed-out-session/), attempting to steal your Twitter login credentials. Internet jargon calls such behavior “phishing”.”
We call such behavior “illegal”, and hope that Twitter stomps them out soon.
The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.
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