This past weekend, my Twitter account got hacked ( which was sort of my own fault, because my password was "password" - I never changed it), and three spam messages about winning money from some cell phone scam were sent. The hackers changed my password and email, so I have no access to the account.
The link that was in these Tweets led to some site called Predicto, which appears to be a business devoted to text-in voting, and stuff like that. I've tried everything to find a contact there so I can personally rip them a new one, but I haven't been able to. Apparently they run some sort of affiliate program that encourages idiots to hack Twitter accounts. Predicto, you are terrible, terrible spammers, and I hate you.
My first email to Twitter Support (ha) was on Saturday morning - I received an auto-response, and haven't heard from them since. I also reported the problem on GetSatisfaction.com, which is a community support site for all sorts of things, including Twitter. This was when I realized that Twitter support would never help me, since I saw people saying that it had been months or YEARS since their support ticket was opened. WTF?!?!
So, at this point, I don't really know what to do. I've tried contacting people at Twitter, no response. It sucks that they are so fast to help Britney Spears get her account back, but not people who have been using Twitter since it started out, and have been strong supporters of it.
I realize it's a free service, but if they ever intend to make any money from it, they need to pay attention to the needs of the majority of people on Twitter, not just celebrities. The bigger Twitter gets, the more of a target it will be for hackers - look what just happened to the founders.
So, if anyone has any advice, that would be much appreciated. But, as of right now, it looks like I'll never get my account back. So no more @its_amber. I'm going to wait a few more days to see if anyone helps me, and if not, I guess I'll have to start all over.
UPDATE: you can now follow me at @amberfinlay - I made a new one because not being able to keep up with my friends made me sad.
That's not cool at all.
Is your blog safe?
When i came onto the site it asked me for my Twitter name and password?!
(I didn't give it)
Posted by: Matt | July 22, 2009 at 11:45 AM
gah! i think i just fixed that - I think it was because the blog was trying to aggregate my no longer existing tweets into the sidebar. should be fine. :)
Posted by: amber finlay | July 22, 2009 at 11:50 AM
That's not cool at all.
i think i just fixed.....
Posted by: louis | December 14, 2010 at 10:04 PM