In a move to stop the crypto-currency scam, Twitter has taken action against all the fake accounts named “Elon Musk.” Why this step? There had been many occurrences of counterfeit handles, advertising to give away a considerable amount of e-coins at a discounted price. Many users following such accounts have been swindled online, and have lost their privacy and credentials. Usually, such fake accounts go by the name of a celebrity, a politician or any prominent public figure to trap users into giving away their internet identity. So the social networking service has taken a stand to put an end to such scams. Google Takes Steps to Combat Cryptocurrency Miners on Play Store.

As part of the move, Twitter has been shutting down any dummy account with a name similar or identical to “Elon Musk” and handles which have recently changed their account name. Earlier this month, Twitter had taken a similar step to stop fake news and bot followers that Twitter users buy to increase their social-media status. Twitter Cracks Down On Fake Accounts & Followers; PM Narendra Modi Loses Around 3 Lakh Followers.

“As part of our continuing efforts to combat spam and malicious activity on our service, we’re testing new measures to challenge accounts that use terms commonly associated with spam campaigns. We are continually refining these detections based on changes in spammy activity,” a Twitter spokesperson told The Verge. Facebook Urges Companies to Work Together Against Data Leaks.

Twitter has made provision for the users to re-activate their blocked accounts through a CAPTCHA test and by providing their phone number, in case their accounts are not meant for phishing and are merely fan pages named after the Space X CEO. Through this, the social networking giant can identify whether the account is legitimate or a bot planted by phishers.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 27, 2018 01:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).