Twitter hit with new spam

A series of third-party apps began filtering through Twitter overnight that sent spam messages from users’ accounts without their knowledge.

In one example, Twitter users were told that a new app could tell them how many other Twitter users had “unfollowed” them on the service. Once a user signed up for the app, his or her account would automatically send the same message to all followers, asking them to verify their account and then take them to a spam advertising site.

Del Harvey, director of Twitter’s Trust & Safety team, became aware of the spam application early Tuesday and quickly suspended the accounts. “The latest round (but surely not the last!) of scammy, spammy apps have been suspended; avoid clicking on those bad apps!” Harvey wrote in a Twitter message.

Carolyn Penner, a Twitter spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail that no one’s account was compromised beyond the spam messages. “We suspended several apps that were created overnight,” Penner wrote. “These apps claimed that users would be able to immediately see who unfollowed them once they granted the app access to their account.”

Twitter has recently been battling a rising number of worm-like apps that hijack users accounts and send them to spam websites.

©2011 The New York
Times News Service