Success shadowed by scammers
Threads, the new social media platform from Meta, has seen explosive growth in its early days. However, the platform has also been plagued by scammers who have impersonated notable Crypto Twitter personas.
These digital doppelgängers have created a slew of counterfeit accounts, masquerading as popular figures and projects. Decentralized finance platform Wombex Finance was among the first to flag an imposter account falsely claiming affiliation with their project. The platform promptly issued a warning, advising users to steer clear of potential scams and confirming their non-presence on Threads.
Legal turmoil and troublesome impersonation
Beyond the scam-related storm, a legal tempest brews, with Twitter launching a legal offensive against Meta’s freshly minted social media platform. A legal representative of Twitter lambasted Threads as a “carbon copy” application, purportedly crafted by poaching ex-staff members from Twitter’s ranks – a platform now under the stewardship of Elon Musk – and exploiting proprietary knowledge.
This saga of identity duplication continues unabated. Notable NFT influencer Leonidas, with a substantial following of over 93,000 users, also reported impersonators on Threads. In a proactive move, Leonidas established an official Threads account to combat these impersonation attempts.
Even prominent Twitter crypto community members, such as Jeffrey Huang (known as Machi Big Brother), have been targeted, with bogus accounts duplicating their online personas.
Call to action amid rapid growth
While these counterfeit accounts have yet to disseminate scams or phishing links, they’ve been actively posting crypto-related content. This pattern echoes the persistent issue of phishing scams on Twitter, where cyber-criminals hijack high-profile accounts to distribute malicious links, intending to trick the unsuspecting into revealing cryptocurrency exchange login credentials or connecting their wallets to crypto-draining smart contracts.
A report by Web3 security firm Beosin estimates that such phishing scams resulted in the theft of approximately $108 million worth of cryptocurrencies in the first half of this year alone.
A plea for caution
As Threads basks in its growing popularity, the specter of legal disputes and deceptive scams loom large. Users must stay vigilant, exercise caution, and diligently verify account authenticity. Embracing these security measures will protect individuals from becoming victims of crypto-related scams and phishing attempts.
This is a necessary step to ensure that Threads weaves a tapestry of secure and trustworthy social interactions, rather than a web of deceit and legal wrangling.
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