By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept

News Junction

Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • World News
    World NewsShow More
    Ousted Bangladesh PM Hasina’s party barred from election as party registration suspended
    Ousted Bangladesh PM Hasina’s party barred from election as party registration suspended
    May 14, 2025
    Cassandra Ventura testifies, tells jury freak offs became a job
    Cassandra Ventura testifies, tells jury freak offs became a job
    May 13, 2025
    White South Africans arrive in US after Trump administration granted them refugee status | World News
    White South Africans arrive in US after Trump administration granted them refugee status | World News
    May 13, 2025
    Trump’s Mideast Wish List: + Trillion in Investments – and Some Diplomacy Too
    Trump’s Mideast Wish List: $1+ Trillion in Investments – and Some Diplomacy Too
    May 13, 2025
    Djokovic-Murray coaching partnership ends before French Open | Tennis News
    Djokovic-Murray coaching partnership ends before French Open | Tennis News
    May 13, 2025
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    Ukraine blows up bridges to consolidate its positions in Russia
    Ukraine blows up bridges to consolidate its positions in Russia
    August 18, 2024
    Commentary: AI phones from Google and Apple will erode trust in everything
    Commentary: AI phones from Google and Apple will erode trust in everything
    August 18, 2024
    The most famous Indian Dishes – Insights Success
    The most famous Indian Dishes – Insights Success
    August 18, 2024
    Life on the road as a female long rides cyclist
    Life on the road as a female long rides cyclist
    August 18, 2024
    UK inflation rises to 2.2%
    UK inflation rises to 2.2%
    August 18, 2024
  • Cryptocurrency
    CryptocurrencyShow More
    BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, ADA, DOGE, PI, LEO, HBAR
    BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, ADA, DOGE, PI, LEO, HBAR
    May 14, 2025
    Altcoins’ roaring returns and falling USDT stablecoin dominance suggest ‘altseason’ is here
    Altcoins’ roaring returns and falling USDT stablecoin dominance suggest ‘altseason’ is here
    May 14, 2025
    How to Use tsUSDe on TON for Passive Dollar Yield in 2025
    How to Use tsUSDe on TON for Passive Dollar Yield in 2025
    May 13, 2025
    South Korea’s Democratic Party sets up ‘Digital Asset Committee’
    South Korea’s Democratic Party sets up ‘Digital Asset Committee’
    May 13, 2025
    Curve DAO (CRV) price drops as Curve Finance battles DNS attack
    Curve DAO (CRV) price drops as Curve Finance battles DNS attack
    May 13, 2025
  • Technology
    TechnologyShow More
    How to Improve Your Spotify Recommendations
    How to Improve Your Spotify Recommendations
    August 18, 2024
    X says it’s closing operations in Brazil
    X says it’s closing operations in Brazil
    August 18, 2024
    Supermoon set to rise: Top tips for amateur photographers | Science & Tech News
    Supermoon set to rise: Top tips for amateur photographers | Science & Tech News
    August 18, 2024
    Scientists Want to See Videos of Your Cat for a New Study
    Scientists Want to See Videos of Your Cat for a New Study
    August 18, 2024
    OpenAI’s new voice mode let me talk with my phone, not to it
    OpenAI’s new voice mode let me talk with my phone, not to it
    August 18, 2024
  • Entertainment
  • Sports News
  • People
  • Trend
Reading: Twitter Scammers Stole $1,000 From My Friend—So I Hunted Them Down
Share
Font ResizerAa

News Junction

  • World News
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Trend
  • Entertainment
Search
  • Recent Headlines in Entertainment, World News, and Cryptocurrency – NewsJunction
  • World News
  • Business
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Sports News
  • People
  • Trend
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
News Junction > Blog > Trend > Twitter Scammers Stole $1,000 From My Friend—So I Hunted Them Down
Twitter Scammers Stole ,000 From My Friend—So I Hunted Them Down
Trend

Twitter Scammers Stole $1,000 From My Friend—So I Hunted Them Down

Published July 27, 2023
Share
4 Min Read
SHARE

Embarrassed, angry, victimized. That’s just a few of the words my friend uses to describe his recent run-in with a cybercriminal that used a hacked Twitter account to scam people out of hundreds of dollars. Twitter, meanwhile, ignored his pleas for help. That’s when I got involved.

After Tim Utzig lost $1,000 to a fraudster who tricked him using a hacked Twitter account, I asked an expert in social engineering and hunting scammers to help. Ultimately, we tracked down the suspected culprits and identified a network of apparent scammers and money mules expertly swindling people out of their savings. This scamming saga shows how fraudsters use social media, build a network of people to operate different payment accounts, and apply effective techniques to bilk their victims.

It also shows the additional challenges that blind users like Utzig face on the internet and how they are at higher risk of exploitation by indiscriminate online criminals.

Inaccessible and Unacceptable

On May 23, Utzig realized he’d been scammed. He was gearing up for a journalism master’s program at the City University of London and happened to be in the market for a new laptop. By coincidence, someone using the Twitter account of longtime Baltimore sports reporter Roch Kubatko tweeted that they had a new Apple laptop for sale. Utzig trusted Kubatko, whom he’d previously met, and the tweet seemed innocent—and arrived at the perfect moment. So Utzig responded to the tweet with a DM.

Utzig uses a screen reader to navigate the internet and social media apps, including Twitter. A sighted person may have observed oddities in the initial tweet and profile, but the screen reader did nothing to alert Utzig about a key fact: Kubatko’s Twitter account had been hacked, and the person he was talking to wasn’t Kubatko.

“I feel like people with disabilities as a whole are more susceptible to online fraud—screen readers are just one of the methods used by a population who are visually impaired or blind to assist in using technology,” Utzig says. “You’re going to miss certain visual cues that might signify fraud, such as someone changing their profile picture to something different, and the screen reader won’t pick up on it.”

Screen readers also often don’t vocalize misspellings, inaudible grammatical errors, or typography such as fully capitalized words that a sighted person may see as suspicious. And the alternative text on image descriptions, which are manually applied by the individual sharing the content, is the only way a screen reader can describe an image.

Then there’s Twitter itself. Check marks are now effectively useless, especially if you’re blind. Since Twitter changed its verification system under Elon Musk’s ownership, the blue tick that used to be a reliable sign of identity can now be obtained by pretty much anyone. A screen reader will call the Twitter Blue check mark “verified” as before, but the blind user can no longer rely on it as much as they once did.

Recent moves by Twitter concern accessibility advocates. Last year, Twitter laid off its accessibility team, which was responsible for ensuring the platform was usable for people with disabilities, and restrictions on Twitter’s API broke some tools and resources used by blind people. These changes prompted the National Federation of the Blind to move away from Twitter and create a Mastodon server, which the group says is more friendly and accessible for blind users.

#Twitter #Scammers #Stole #FriendSo #Hunted

TAGGED:CrimeFriendSohackingHuntedScammerssecurityStoleTwitterx
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Whatsapp Whatsapp LinkedIn Email Copy Link Print
Share
What do you think?
Love0
Sad0
Happy0
Sleepy0
Angry0
Dead0
Wink0
Previous Article Women’s soccer players file lawsuit against Butler after alleged sexual assault by team trainer Women’s soccer players file lawsuit against Butler after alleged sexual assault by team trainer
Next Article My Kitchen Rules couple Carly and Tresne suffer a devastating blow after their one-year-old daughter died following a battle with leukaemia My Kitchen Rules couple Carly and Tresne suffer a devastating blow after their one-year-old daughter died following a battle with leukaemia
- Advertisement -

Latest Post

BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, ADA, DOGE, PI, LEO, HBAR
BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, ADA, DOGE, PI, LEO, HBAR
Cryptocurrency
Ousted Bangladesh PM Hasina’s party barred from election as party registration suspended
Ousted Bangladesh PM Hasina’s party barred from election as party registration suspended
World News
Altcoins’ roaring returns and falling USDT stablecoin dominance suggest ‘altseason’ is here
Altcoins’ roaring returns and falling USDT stablecoin dominance suggest ‘altseason’ is here
Cryptocurrency
Cassandra Ventura testifies, tells jury freak offs became a job
Cassandra Ventura testifies, tells jury freak offs became a job
World News
How to Use tsUSDe on TON for Passive Dollar Yield in 2025
How to Use tsUSDe on TON for Passive Dollar Yield in 2025
Cryptocurrency
White South Africans arrive in US after Trump administration granted them refugee status | World News
White South Africans arrive in US after Trump administration granted them refugee status | World News
World News
- Advertisement -

You Might Also Like

Best Satellite Messengers (2024): Iridium, Tracking Devices, Garmin
Trend

Best Satellite Messengers (2024): Iridium, Tracking Devices, Garmin

July 1, 2024
Pixel Watch 2: Exclusive Google watch faces leak in advance of autumn release
Trend

Pixel Watch 2: Exclusive Google watch faces leak in advance of autumn release

August 2, 2023
Cybertruck as electricity storage: Tesla to introduce bi-directional charging
Trend

Cybertruck as electricity storage: Tesla to introduce bi-directional charging

January 28, 2024
Maybe You Should Just Join a Commune
Trend

Maybe You Should Just Join a Commune

August 24, 2023

About Us

NEWS JUNCTION (NewsJunction.xyz) Your trusted destination for global news. Stay informed with our timely and accurate reporting on diverse topics, including politics, technology, science, entertainment, sports, and more. Count on us for unbiased and reliable updates at your fingertips.

Quick Link

  • About
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact

Top Categories

  • World News
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Sports News
  • Trend
  • People

Subscribe

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

    © 2023 News Junction.
    • Blog
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    Welcome Back!

    Sign in to your account

    Username or Email Address
    Password

    Lost your password?