After all these years, Twitter has finally decided to expand its policies to tackle financial scams on its platform. Until now, these scams were being handled via the service’s spam reporting tool, which was stretched out last October, giving users a number of choices to identify the type of scam they found in a tweet.
Some of the available choices were to classify if a tweet included malicious links, was generated from a fake account or was utilizing hashtags or the reply function to post scam etc. Still, various types of financial scams occurring on the platform weren’t being addressed.
Through the new policy, Twitter explains what it sees as a financial scam. In a nutshell, the company says that scamming people to get money or other sensitive financial details will be unacceptable under the new policy and that users should refrain from signing up with the social networking service, or post and send tweets and Direct Messages respectively if their sole intention is to scam others.
According to Twitter, it will be on the hunt for phishing and relationship scams as well as money-flipping tricks, among other types of fraudulent activities.
The policy couldn’t have been introduced at a better time, considering how Twitter is under fire currently for letting crypto scams thrive on its platform. Various such scams employ the use of reply function, impersonation or even false claims and promises to trick the victims into shelling out money. If that’s not concerning enough, a clear PayPal phishing attempt also ran on the service earlier this year as a promoted tweet.
In order to file a financial scam complaint against a tweet on Twitter, users will have to select “report tweet” from the menu and then proceed with the option that says “It’s suspicious or spam” and follow it with selecting the option that is most relevant to their issue.
For financial issues that are not covered by the policy such as refund issues or claims related to sale of products on Twitter etc., the company has made it clear that it will not be held responsible.
Lastly, Twitter can go as far as permanently suspending the accounts of users who continue to indulge in scam-related activities on the platform.
Photo: Thomas Trutschel / Photothek / Getty Images
Read next: Twitter Finally Introduces Customizable Lists that can be used as Alternative Timelines!
Some of the available choices were to classify if a tweet included malicious links, was generated from a fake account or was utilizing hashtags or the reply function to post scam etc. Still, various types of financial scams occurring on the platform weren’t being addressed.
Through the new policy, Twitter explains what it sees as a financial scam. In a nutshell, the company says that scamming people to get money or other sensitive financial details will be unacceptable under the new policy and that users should refrain from signing up with the social networking service, or post and send tweets and Direct Messages respectively if their sole intention is to scam others.
According to Twitter, it will be on the hunt for phishing and relationship scams as well as money-flipping tricks, among other types of fraudulent activities.
The policy couldn’t have been introduced at a better time, considering how Twitter is under fire currently for letting crypto scams thrive on its platform. Various such scams employ the use of reply function, impersonation or even false claims and promises to trick the victims into shelling out money. If that’s not concerning enough, a clear PayPal phishing attempt also ran on the service earlier this year as a promoted tweet.
In order to file a financial scam complaint against a tweet on Twitter, users will have to select “report tweet” from the menu and then proceed with the option that says “It’s suspicious or spam” and follow it with selecting the option that is most relevant to their issue.
For financial issues that are not covered by the policy such as refund issues or claims related to sale of products on Twitter etc., the company has made it clear that it will not be held responsible.
Lastly, Twitter can go as far as permanently suspending the accounts of users who continue to indulge in scam-related activities on the platform.
Photo: Thomas Trutschel / Photothek / Getty Images
Read next: Twitter Finally Introduces Customizable Lists that can be used as Alternative Timelines!
