MANHATTAN, NY – Many people have fallen as victims of a Twitter video hoax that transpired this Tuesday. Disguised as a video, it starts its scheme by asking for app authorization before the supposed video can be viewed. Once a user gives in to the pretense, there will be an auto-tweeting of a hoax video on the account of the user. With that, a wave of Tweet prank has begun.
Book Critic Dwight Garner and Mother Jones Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery fell for this Twitter video trap. However, Garner had decided to delete the tweet later. It is understandable that even public figures can become victims of this pretense since the fake video holds precise captions.
People became inquisitive with the Twitter hoax that they actually went to see what it looked like. Apparently, it is mentioned in the fine print that authorization of the app will allow it to post tweets on the user’s behalf, although the app will not gain access to the account’s password.
Since word got about this piece of information, people thought that the Twitter video hoax was not as big as a scam like people thought it was. While this is not the first time bamboozles like this transpired on Twitter, it certainly sent a message regarding clicking on things that one does not know anything about. There goes the saying: “Think before you click.”
Many people are hopeful that Twitter users will become more circumspect regarding the posts or tweets that they see on social media after this incident. Even the Twitter Company cannot stop scammers and hackers from doing their thing. However, the least they can do is to educate their users of the proper interaction in the web realm.
Ever since people became acquainted with technology, they sometimes feel as if nothing can go wrong with them using it. For the longest time, computers, most especially the internet, served as man’s digital best friend, in contrast to the traditional concept of dogs being human’s best friend.
When a person needs to calculate an equation instantaneously, he resorts to technology. The same goes for other tasks. However, due to technological evolution, dangers are starting to lurk in the corners of gizmo world.
One has to act with precaution. Surely, the video hoax that made its way through Twitter just recently was just something for laughs. However, it is not safe to say that all hoaxes are going to be as harmless as this one.
In the fine print of the Twitter video hoax, one can read that the app will be tweeting on behalf of the user. If a lot of people can be fooled when the signs are already in front of them, then who is there to say that they will not be deceived when bigger hackers rule the Internet.
Clearly, the perpetrators of the Twitter video hoax were only after the fun, which was why they did not bother to track them down. They will have no control over them, so the discretion is already left for the users.
