You received a suspicious DM (direct message) that directs you to a dangerous website with sweet words like "You won our RT campaign! Have you ever received a suspicious DM (direct message) that leads you to a dangerous website with such sweet words as "Click here to receive a gift"?
Fake accounts are common these days. If you click on the URL without knowing if it is real or not, it is dangerous! Here are some tips on how to recognize a fake spoofed account!
A suspicious message arrives one day out of the blue...
This is a message sent by a fake account posing as NoiseAndKisses. The strange polite language of the text makes you feel uncomfortable, but if you don't pay attention to it, you may not notice that it is a fake account.
Up until a few years ago, spam messages were suspiciously written in wrong Japanese, but recently the quality has become uncomfortable.
Why did I receive a spoofed DM?
Perhaps you recently entered a retweet campaign or a giveaway?
In most cases, the target of spoofed fake accounts are accounts running RT giveaway campaigns.
These are the "follow me and RT this tweet to participate in the giveaway" type of campaigns conducted by corporate and store accounts.
People who participate are more likely to believe when they are told that they have won a prize or that a coupon is being given away, and are more likely to click on the URL. This is why unsolicited activities are targeted at accounts that are in the midst of RT campaigns.
It's really annoying to feel bad for just participating in a giveaway! But I don't want to stop entering giveaways! How can I defend myself?
How to recognize a fake spoofed account
How to recognize spoofed fake accounts To avoid being fooled by malicious impersonators (fake accounts) who extract and misuse your personal information, check out the common characteristics* as of June 2022 to protect yourself!
Account name differs from the real one by one or two letters
To spot a fake account, first check the account name!
👇こちらは、👇Here is the real NoiseAndKisses account.
👇そしてこちらは、なりすましのアカウント。
本物のアカウントはNakapparelなのに対して、偽アカウントはNakappart。一文字違いなのでパッと見だと判別し辛いのが特徴です。
- Nakappart (with the last two letters different)
- NakappareI (with a capital "i" instead of an "L" at the end)
- Nakappparel (one more p)
and so on. The fake accounts that have been created so far are also quite clever.
Other fake accounts are usually created with one or two different letters, and they can be deceptive at first glance😱.
Account creation date is too recent
迷惑メッセージを送るためだけに作られた偽アカウントは当然作られたばかり！「このアカウント本物？」と思ったらアカウントの作成日をチェックすることをおすすめします。
The number of followers is too small
本物のアカウントと比べてフォロワー数が明らかに少ないのも怪しいポイントです。
No tweets, only retweets
そもそもツイートが全然ない！よくみると本物のアカウントからいくつかのツイートをリイツートしているだけで、自分から発信している形跡がありません。
The fake account's information is all copied, so it's also impossible to distribute information through new tweets.
The profile is an exact copy of the real account
もしかしたら、本物のアカウントが他の用途で使うために作った「サブアカ（サブ垢）」かもしれない…と思ってしまうかもしれません。
However, the本当にサブアカであれば「ヘッダー画像も、アカウント名も、プロフィールの文章も完全に本物のコピー」はおかしな話。本物とは違うアカウントであるとアピールしなければならないため、サブアカだと判断できるための変更点がある筈です。
プロフィールの内容も本物のアカウントを比べてみましょう。完全に同じ内容の場合は偽アカウントを疑うポイントです。
A complete copy of the profile is a fake account. I remember!
Check for alerts on the real account
⚠️ Note ⚠️
- NoiseAndKisses (@NAKapparel) January 5, 2022
Beware of fake accounts!
→directional marker or indicator @NAKappaarel ← Fake.
Please do not click when you receive a message with a link, please help us report and block 🙇🏻♀️ pic.twitter.com/9otmQ3zBCy
If the management of the real account is already aware of the fake account, a warning tweet may have been posted.
There is only one Twitter account, and the other accounts are fake accounts. Some accounts seem to operate with precautions beforehand, such as
I opened a DM from a fake account, what should I do?
If you receive a DM from an unsolicited account or open a DM, there is still no problem! Don't panic and take action.
Do not click on the URL! What if I click on it?
It is important not to click on the URL.
Unsolicited accounts will try to get you to click on a URL posted on the pretext of winning a prize or coupon. If you suspect that the URL is suspicious, do not click on it.
I clicked on the wrong URL! What should I do?
Just because you clicked on the URL does not mean that you will be charged money immediately. Even in the unlikely event that you are charged, you are not obligated to pay, so please respond calmly. If you click on the URL of an unsolicited message, close your browser immediately. In most cases, you will be prompted to enter personal or credit card information in order to extract it, so there is no problem if you close the browser without entering anything.
Anyway, it is important not to click on the URL.
Report it to Twitter!
⚠️ Beware of fake accounts ⚠️@nakapparei Please report and block 🙏 They have very similar IDs, but the last letter is different.
- NoiseAndKisses (@NAKapparel) September 10, 2021
Please ignore the suspicious DMs sent to you and do not access the URL: 🙇🏻♀️ pic.twitter.com/wHVPsvmxUS
If you find a fake account, we recommend reporting and blocking it.
- Click on "Report @Account Name" from the upper right menu of the account you want to block.
- Click on "Suspicious or spam".
- Click on "Fake account.
- When you see "Thank you for your report. and click "Block @Account Name". You are done!
By the way, when choosing a reason to report a problem, "You are impersonating me or another user" is also valid. Since you will need to enter somewhat more detailed information in that case, the above procedure is recommended!
If a certain number of people report & block the account, the account will be frozen due to management regulations.
It is OK to ignore it
Basically, it is OK to ignore unsolicited messages and fake accounts.
If you do not click on the URL or return a follow, nothing will be affected. It would be kind to report & block them to prevent someone else from being tricked or clicking on them.
Summary of how to recognize a fake account
- Messages from unsolicited accounts are more likely to reach you if you're entering a gift campaign.
- 偽アカウントはアカウント名が本物と1-2字違い
- The account creation date is very recentやけに最近
- フォロー＆フォロワー数が少ない
- No tweets, only retweets
- URLを押さないようにする
- 見つけたら通報＆ブロックするべし！
If the account is running a popular RT campaign, it can be really annoying to see fake accounts being created over and over again 💦 If you find a strange account, deal with it calmly!
This article summarizes data on unsolicited DMs, fake accounts, and spoofing as of June 2022. It will be updated as soon as the latest information becomes available.
Could it be a real account?" More and more people are getting fooled into thinking 💦.