Twittercut Scam

PC Tools is warning about a new Internet scam targeting Twitter users that claims to drastically increase your Twitter followers, using a website called "Twittercut".

PC Tools says the worm is spreading quickly, with most attacks occurring in the US, Canada, Sweden and Brazil. The worm is taking advantage of the current trend of amassing Twitter followers in order to capture users' Twitter account details and self-propagate.

The script embedded on the Twittercut website provides statistics on the unique visitors and as of 25th May (US time) there were approximately 4 778 unique visitors and by 26th May there were approximately 8, 735 unique visitors - a total of 13 000 unique visitors in the last two days and revenues estimated well into the thousands of dollars, based on a pay per click system.

Twitter users may see a tweet in their stream that reads "OMG I just got over 1000 followers today from http://twittercut.com". Once clicked, the link takes you to a fraudulent Twitter website requesting your login and password details, sends out this tweet to all of your followers as well as direct users to a dating website, with the aggregate number of views resulting in affiliate revenue.

PC Tools advises people to ignore any tweets that refer to "Twittercut" and not to enter their log-in details on the "Twittercut" website.

As people look for new information, it's important to tell them that cyber-criminals may be using this opportunity to find more victims.

PC Tools can help make sense of this attack and explain what consumers should look out for to keep their computers and their records safe. They can tell you what the risks are, while providing both common sense tips and recommendations based on research from PC Tools Malware Research Centre.

Disclaimer: This Threat Update has been prepared solely for informational purposes. To the extent permitted by law, PC Tools has no liability or responsibility to you whatsoever for any damage or loss caused to you or your computer system as a result of relying on this update.