Twitter Unfollow Me Virus

Another day another scam, hoax, or virus.  This time, the culprit is the Twitter Unfollow Me virus.  Here’s how it works.  You receive a message like the following:  58 people have unfollowed me, find out how many have unfollowed you: [LINK] #rw2011 #duringsexplease #youneedanasswhoopin

Then, because you want to find out who in their right minds would actually unfollow you, you click on the link, which leads you to a page where you have to give your permission to allow the application to access your account.  Once you do this, the virus is in your system and your Twitter account will begin sending out advertisements on your behalf.  Of course, then your friends will also receive the same message and this spreads the scam virally across Twitter.

So, how do the scammers make money? According to NakedSecurity.com, the scammers take advantage of that by presenting a webpage which looks as if it’s about to reveal that information – but is actually designed to make you take an online survey instead.  The scammers then make money off of each completed survey.  http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/04/19/unfollowed-me-rogue-application-spreads-virally-on-twitter/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nakedsecurity+%28Naked+Security+-+Sophos%29

Twitter Unfollow Me Virus | How to remove?

If you were unfortunate enough to allow the access of the application, you can still have it removed.  According to DigitalLife.com, here are the steps to getting rid of the Twitter Unfollow Me Virus:

• On the menu at the top of your Twitter profile click Profile.
• Underneath your Twitter profile pic, click the link Edit Your Profile.
• This will lead you to your Settings page.
• On the menu at the top of your Setting page, click Connections.
• There you will see the applications you’ve allowed to access your account. (It’s a good idea to check this fairly regularly).
• You may have a long list of applications if you’ve connected Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter for iPhone to your account.
• Carefully scroll through the list and remove the suspicious apps you don’t recognize.
• Email your apologies to your friends who follow you on Twitter and suggest they do the same.

The final, and most important step to protecting yourself against Twitter and Facebook hoaxes is to keep checking in on www.BlackBoxSocialMedia.com for the latest information on what hackers and scammers are up to.