Erik van Straten<p>🚨 Identity fraud on Mastodon</p><p>Just a reminder that there is a lot of identity fraud happening on the internet, increasingly on Mastodon as well.</p><p>Often impersonators are easy to detect (like the ones below) - but sometimes existing accounts are taken over by criminals. Always keep in mind that someone on the internet interacting with you may (currently) not be who they claim to be.</p><p>This includes my account. If it does not sound like me, it may not be me. Having doubts and double checking are good habits. Reputation (good or bad) is a useful property for knowing who you're dealing with, and to help detect anomalies.</p><p>Accounts with a few or 0 followers, and hardly any or just plain pointless toots, may be bots or criminals coming after your money.</p><p>If someone appears to only follow random Mastodonts with lots of followers, either they're noobs or they're here with less friendly intentions. If they then start following possibly lonely people, they *may* be trying to gain their attention and trust - maybe for nefarious purposes.</p><p>🤔 Recently the following people started following the automated channel <a href="https://mastodon.world/@auschwitzmuseum/followers" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">mastodon.world/@auschwitzmuseu</span><span class="invisible">m/followers</span></a>:</p><p>Kendal Jenner [1]<br>Jennifer Aniston [2]<br>Stephen King [3]<br>Keanu Reeves [4]<br>Keanu Reeves [5]</p><p>They all abuse the pictures of the real persons they impersonate (they're not just following the Auschwitz Memorial BTW).</p><p>[1] <a href="https://mastodon.social/@kendall01/following" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">mastodon.social/@kendall01/fol</span><span class="invisible">lowing</span></a><br>[2] <a href="https://mastodon.social/@Jenniferaniston123/following" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">mastodon.social/@Jenniferanist</span><span class="invisible">on123/following</span></a><br>[3] <a href="https://mastodon.social/@Stevenkvng/following" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">mastodon.social/@Stevenkvng/fo</span><span class="invisible">llowing</span></a><br>[4] <a href="https://mastodon.social/@keanureeves1928/following" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">mastodon.social/@keanureeves19</span><span class="invisible">28/following</span></a><br>[5] <a href="https://mastodon.social/@reeves001/following" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">mastodon.social/@reeves001/fol</span><span class="invisible">lowing</span></a> (screenshot below)</p><p><a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/IdentityFraud" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>IdentityFraud</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Impersonation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Impersonation</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Authentication" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Authentication</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Identity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Identity</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/IdentityVerification" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>IdentityVerification</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Auschwitz" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Auschwitz</span></a></p>