Twitter resets accounts of scam targets

Twitter on Tuesday blocked the accounts of users who evidently fell prey to a "phishing" scam that stole their log-in information.

The wildly popular microblogging service locked the apparent victims of the con job out of their Twitter accounts and sent them email messages directing them to create new passwords.

"OMG just looked at someone's Twitter who got hacked (and it) made me have shivers," a member of the online community wrote in a text message on Tuesday.

Twitter declined to reveal the extent of the problem but said in an email response to press inquiries that it reset a "small number" of accounts that it believes were "compromised off-site."

Updates posted to some Twitter accounts indicated that user names and passwords had been given to "untrusted third parties," according to Twitter.

Phishing scams typically involve people being tricked by bogus email messages or Web pages into giving valuable information such as passwords to online criminals.

"While we're still investigating and ensuring that the appropriate parties are notified, we do believe that the steps we've taken should ensure user safety," Twitter said in a release.

(c) 2010 AFP