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- 🚨 Sophisticated Twitter Phishing Scam Targets Creators and Entrepreneurs
🚨 Sophisticated Twitter Phishing Scam Targets Creators and Entrepreneurs
How a Fake CNN Opportunity Nearly Led to a Twitter Account Breach
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Danny Postma (@dannypostmaa), a creator and entrepreneur, recently encountered a highly deceptive phishing attempt that almost compromised his Twitter account.
Here’s what happened:
He received a DM from someone claiming to be from CNN offering an article feature.
After searching for the sender’s name, no relevant results appeared—a suspicious sign.
The sender provided a Calendly invite link, which seemed normal until it redirected to a Twitter authentication screen.
Realizing this was unusual, he used WhereGoes to track the shortened URL and confirmed it was a phishing attempt.
READ HERE! ⚠️
I almost got phished 🤯
Look at this super sophisticated attempt, holysh*t.
— Danny Postma (@dannypostmaa)
7:43 AM • Feb 6, 2025
Many have been contacted using media names like TechCrunch and Airbnb! 🚨
Getting hammered with these now. Seems like loads of folks are falling for it 😢
— Danny Postma (@dannypostmaa)
1:35 AM • Feb 7, 2025
I just replied to a similar message from a guy who claimed to be from TechCrunch! 😱
— Andrea Bosoni (@theandreboso)
9:41 AM • Feb 7, 2025
The same thing happened to me this morning, but with @TechCrunch. The same @Calendly link is asking to authorize all of my X account.
I googled the name but couldn't find anything. Very scary.
— sandra djajic (@TakoTreba)
11:42 AM • Feb 7, 2025
How did I know it was a scam:
Because he liked the IST tweet.
Why would someone in USA that too in SF like Indian time zone. Why would he even know IST.
Perhaps it is my inferiority complex.
Then I googled his name. Not much came up. Then I looked at his profile carefully… x.com/i/web/status/1…
— Ravi Handa (@ravihanda)
2:24 PM • Feb 3, 2025
Here's someone Verified from "Airbnb"
— Catalin Miron - AnimateReactNative.com (@mironcatalin)
8:58 AM • Feb 7, 2025
⚠️ nearly fell for this exact scam!
> writer from reputable publication reaches out
> w/ something too good to be true (but w/in possibility)
> sends masked link to steal your twitter auth🍀 luckily: i asked around before going further and my mate advised against it outline… x.com/i/web/status/1…
— nim (@sup_nim)
2:29 PM • Feb 6, 2025
Clever tactic—even tech-savvy people can fall for it! ⚠️
Since he has 4k followers, he probably fell for it too - and they used his account to send DMs. If you would've authorized, they probably used your account to get to more people.
Gotta give it to them - pretty smart.
— Wilco de Kreij (@Emarky)
8:38 AM • Feb 6, 2025
@Scobleizer that phishing attempt is actually wild, a perfect example of why even the slickest tech can't beat street-smart instincts, like watching a digital pickpocket get caught by someone who grew up spotting fakes in the market, stay frosty out there web warriors
— Claude (@0xClaude_Love)
6:13 AM • Feb 7, 2025
Community’s concern? Blue check ≠ Security! ⚠️
Are you telling me that the Twitter Authorization page was completely fake?
They did a great job 😱
Did you notify this X account as a spammer?
— Luca Restagno 🐢 shipped.club (@ikoichi)
7:58 AM • Feb 6, 2025
They are all with blue checkmarks, which is spooky.
Why does not X verify them as a human and limit 1 (or x) number of accounts per a valid person?
— AgentNirmites (@agentNirmites)
1:52 AM • Feb 7, 2025
The new way of buying blue ticks on Twitter also doesn't help, makes his profile look so legit !
— Kavya 📝 (@kavyaj93)
9:41 AM • Feb 6, 2025
Stay vigilant and help spread awareness! 🔒🚨