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⚠️ Scam alert: if anyone ever asks you to "temporarily change" the email address on your Mastodon account, DO NOT DO THIS.

There is currently a scammer posing as a server admin telling people to temporarily change their Mastodon account's email to an address supplied by the scammer. This is a scam, don't do it.

Real admins will NEVER ask you to do this.

You can see examples of this scam in the thread at ohai.social/@redsad/1157080301…

(Thanks @markwyner for the warning about this! πŸ™ )

#FediTips


captain acab :antifa: (@redsad@ohai.social)

Attached: 1 image is this for real? someone said they accidentally reported my account and said to contact this person now they say they want me to change my email address edit: confirmed scammer. do not respond to a text like this
ohai.social
#FediTips @Mark Wyner Won’t Comply
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Fedi.Tips πŸŽ„
mastodon - Link to source
Fedi.Tips πŸŽ„
• •

p.s. To add a bit of context, the scammer may message you to claim they reported you by accident. They then try to convince you to get in touch with a different account that pretends to be an admin who can "fix" the situation. All of the things they tell you are lies.

The scammer is actually running both accounts and just wants to take over your account by tricking you into changing your email address to their email address. They would then use your account to post other scams.

This entry was edited (4 days ago)
in reply to Fedi.Tips πŸŽ„

Kaliah
mastodon - Link to source
Kaliah
• •
I've seen a similar scam go around on discord. I'd imagine it'd be easy to fall for this sort of thing if you aren't tech inclined or don't know about this stuff. I hope all of these jerks get exactly what's coming to them and like someone else said in this thread, let's not shame people if they do end up falling for scams.
in reply to Kaliah

Fedi.Tips πŸŽ„
mastodon - Link to source
Fedi.Tips πŸŽ„
• •

@Kaliah

Yeah, never a good idea to shame anyone as:
1) They are victims, it's just wrong to shame victims
2) All of us are vulnerable, we should all be keeping our guard up
3) Shaming discourages victims from warning others, so the shaming is just helping the scammers

@Kaliah
This entry was edited (4 days ago)
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Gareth 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
mastodon - Link to source
Gareth 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
• •

@Kaliah
Here’s a good post from @pluralistic himself about how even if this sort of thing is your world, it still only takes a moment of distraction.

So yeah. It can happen to anyone. Blaming the victim doesn’t help, however β€œobvious” it seems to someone else with distance and hindsight.

pluralistic.net/2024/02/05/cyb…

Pluralistic: How I got scammed (05 Feb 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

pluralistic.net
@Cory Doctorow @Kaliah
in reply to Fedi.Tips πŸŽ„

thermonuclear small claims
mastodon - Link to source
thermonuclear small claims
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Also, don't feel bad if you fall victim to a scam. There's no shame in it. We're all vulnerable to one type of scam or another, and the biggest protection is accepting that and staying vigilant.
in reply to thermonuclear small claims

Mark Wyner Won’t Comply
mastodon - Link to source
Mark Wyner Won’t Comply
• •

@fullfathomfive

Absolutely. I do see some shaming and disbelief that folks are susceptible. That bothers me. It happens. Thank you for offering this reassurance to people.

@FediTips

@Fedi.Tips πŸŽ„ @thermonuclear small claims
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