Well I tell you folks it has been a real humdinger over the last few weeks, I can tell you. On Saturday my Twitter account was hacked and has since been stolen. Yes, arguably it was all my fault. I received a DM on the previous Wednesday from a UK based colleague – let’s say – asking me to vote for him in a podcast competition of some sort and, being a good friend, I did so. I clicked on a link and ended up entering my password. Yes I know – foolish woman. As my husband says, I am the weakest link in our security system.
This, for reference, was the kind of message I received, and which is now being sent out to my 50,000 followers or so trying to get them to be as foolish as I was. If you get something like this from me, or anyone else, delete it pronto:
The hackers actually left it a few days, from Wednesday to Saturday, to change my password and then issue 2 step authentication. (No, I did not already have it on, stop pointing out my weaknesses.) And that was that.
For a few days I contacted Twitter multiple times and explained I had been hacked. Then my account was taken over completely, the mail address changed and now it seems I enjoy a career in crypto currency. I reported that account for being an impersonated account – identity fraud in effect. I have heard nothing from the overlords at Twitter.
Here’s what fake “me” now looks like, replete with very fetching blonde locks and, apparently, expertise in Crypto Currency:
I have informed everyone I know that my Twitter account has been hacked and stolen and to ignore all DMs from me. I state that warning again here. It has been a bit stressful but could be worse, right? It could have been money or they could have been tweeting something unsavoury under my name.
I sense indeed that the Good Lord Himself might be telling me that I spend too much time on Twitter. But I did not like seeing someone else pretending to be me. It was – what is the word – discombobulating.
And it was a reminder again just how much mind clutter social media can cause. Thankfully Twitter is my only social media account, apart from LinkedIn where I only post my blogs. I cannot imagine what it must be like to have TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or the other ones the kids like, Snapchat. So much of your precious time is taken up with these things! So much mind clutter. So much of yourself, scatter all over the internet.
I have ended my premium subscription with Twitter on my old account. They are absolutely useless when it comes to hacked and stolen accounts. Perhaps I am being impatient but I wondered, indeed was greatly concerned that the world would be deprived of my hot takes on the Taoiseach in the Oval Office and whether Starmer was going to send military boats to protect the Strait of Hormuz even though the British cannot even protect their own small island from small boats coming over the English Channel.
I have gone and set up another account, demonstrating perhaps my impatience. However I feel psychologically aligned now and in control. The new me, for now, is Laura Perrins BL @LaPerrinsBL.
I shall take my 24 followers and claw my way all the way back to 50,000. I bet it will take me less time than the folks at Twitter will take to restore my account.
This is a lesson in humility. This most important of virtues should never be forgotten. I am not that important, in truth the world could certainly live without my hot takes. But they are there, if you want it.
Just be careful out there folks. Don’t click on the link and if you are foolish enough to do so, don’t hand over your password. Only a moron – and airhead if you will – such as myself would do such a thing.