By
Temitope Olatunji
May 6th, 2024
For many years, bad actors have employed social media platforms such as Twitter to post malicious links.
Bad actors may already be pitching their tents early on Threads – Meta‘s new social media platform. This follows after some high-profile Crypto Twitter users discovered that they were being impersonated on the platform, which was just launched on July 5. But while most of these users have put out disclaimers on their Twitter pages to warn their followers, it might be safe to say that several imposter accounts have gone live on Threads.
Fake Accounts Identified on Meta’s Threads
Threads has reportedly seen nearly 100 million sign-ups since it was launched. But the impressiveness of those figures may yet be underplayed by the issue of impersonation.
For instance, the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Wombex Finance posted one such account impersonating it on the new platform. In the July 8 tweet, Wombex claims that it is not yet on Threads. It then warned its followers against having anything to do with the potential scammer.
Similarly, non-fungible token (NFT) influencer Leonidas has been forced to open a Threads account to make it tough for anyone intending to impersonate him. According to Leonidas’ July 7 tweet, “large NFT accounts” are being replicated by scammers on Threads.
Meanwhile, another case of impersonation came to light when Jeffrey Huang, identified as ‘Machi Big Brother’ tweeted its Threads account to followers. But as it turned out, a fake account had already been set up in his name.
Surprisingly, however, all the fake Threads accounts have avoided posting any scam or phishing links so far. That is, as of press time. For now, they are mostly posting crypto-based content.
So far, the Thread accounts mentioned have avoided sharing any scam or phishing links, with most posting crypto-related content.
Crypto Phishing Scams
For many years, bad actors have employed social media platforms such as Twitter to post malicious links. The mode of operation is simply divided into two.
Sometimes, they create fake accounts that mirror the activities of a real person or business. They then wait to pounce on victims who cannot differentiate between the accounts by posting phishing links.
At other times, they hack into the real accounts of prominent individuals and businesses in the crypto space. And usually, such accounts must have already gained the trust of their followers.
The phishing links are meant to lead unsuspecting victims to sites where their wallets will be drained.
It is worth noting that crypto phishing scams have grown quite popular. According to Web3 security firm Beosin, the first half of 2023 alone saw phishing scammers steal about $108 million worth of crypto.