Two Twitter and Email Scams to Be Aware Of

In the last 18 hours there have been two similar scams launched on Twitter and via email that you should be aware. The Twitter scam involves direct messages. If you receive a direct message that reads something like "is this you" or "this is you" followed by a link which leads you to a Twitter login page. The login page looks real, but if you look at the url you will notice that it is not a Twitter page at all. Entering information there will hijack your Twitter credentials.














The other scam that readers of Free Technology for Teachers should be aware of involves FeedBurner's email delivery service. If you receive an email containing a subject line to the effect of "confirm your subscription to Free Technology for Teachers." If you have been receiving the daily email from me, you do not need to confirm your email. Clicking any link in the scam email will lead you to a real-looking, but fake FeedBurner email confirmation page.





Click the image to enlarge it.

Applications for Education
These scams and the screen captures I've included above, are good examples of why we need to teach our students to be careful and intelligent consumers of online media. Teach students to check the url against the actual page content.

Common Craft has a good video that explains phishing scams and how to avoid becoming a victim of one.