I’ve been noticing that some of my Twitter follow requests have received direct messages asking me to validate my profile via a service called TrueTwit.
Some quick research showed me that I won’t be doing so any time soon.
Just a quick check on the domain name shows that it is registered via “Direct Privacy ID xxxxxx” to an address in the Cayman Islands.
So who is behind the service? What happens when I “verify” my profile or whatever? Is it going to request — or require — access to my profile? If so, what are they going to take, especially since the owner seems to be hiding behind a domain registration proxy service?
To my trained, professional, skeptical eye, this looks like an attempt to steal a bit of personal information and perhaps even take over my Twitter account and do not-so-nice things to my followers — and to do so anonymously and outside of the convenient reach of my government.
Yuck.
Hey, I’m all for systems that will help prevent the spread of spam (as regular readers of this blog know), but until I learn more, I’d have to be a TrueTwit to click on one of those links without knowing what’s on the other end.
So sorry, KipDurney (and anyone else using the service), but I won’t be a-clickin’ that link anytime soon. Hope you understand (and I do welcome your comments. This isn’t about disliking you; it’s about some service I’ve never heard of, registered to who-knows-what in a tax haven, and the security of my computer and Twitter profile).
In other words, it doesn’t look very “tweet” at all!
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