Twitter Prank Dupes Users Into Locking Their Accounts

Like so many social media sites, Twitter users were recently exposed to a viral prank. Random tweets announced an easy way to unlock color options for dressing up your Twitter account. Those tweets were re-tweeted countless times. The irony? Following directions to unlock color palettes left users locked out of their accounts. This time it’s a harmless scheme that’s more annoying than anything else, but many of Twitter’s 320+ million users continue falling for it.

Social media pranks are nothing new, but there’s a big difference between the harmless and the harmful. The tweets sent out about Twitter’s color scheme required users to change their birth year to 2007 and behold, new Twitter color options would appear! But when users took the bait, they found their Twitter account locked. Changing a birth year to 2007 alerted Twitter that the user was under 13 years of age. The minimum age requirement for a Twitter account holder is 13, and alerting Twitter to an “underage” account resulted in the account being locked.

At the least, this latest Twitter prank was annoying and inconvenient. Those caught in the caper were grateful to escape with only having to change their password and provide their correct year of birth. Twitter responded publicly by sending a tweet warning about the prank and sent affected users an email with instructions on how to unlock their account. A quick visit to Twitter’s Safety and Security web page supplies helpful information for all Twitter users.

With no shortage of mischief on social media, it’s important to know how to avoid being duped, especially when the intent is harmful and not at all fun. People of all ages are targeted by scammers and hackers on social media with offers of contests and prizes. It sometimes takes a cyber-smart user to know a rip-off alert when they see one. Following common sense and some cybersecurity basics means you too can be cyber-safe on social media.

Getting involved in quizzes and games on social media is an open invitation to identity theft. If you find you’re the lucky winner of a contest–especially one you didn’t take part in, beware. Promises of gifts, gift cards, or money, for no apparent reason, or for any reason, are lures hacker’s love to use. Winnings of any kind requiring your bank account number or other sensitive information to get your payload are a ruse that usually ends with financial or identity theft. Hackers also take any opportunity to download malware, especially when it’s done in the background, while you’re happily trolling social media and none the wiser. Remembering the adage “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” along with a healthy dose of common sense can prevent a lot of headaches for social media fans.

Stickley on Security
Published April 17, 2019