There is a new Twitter phishing scam making the rounds, and this one is spreading quickly via direct message, wrote by Ben Parr on Mashable.com in October.
Indeed, when using Twitter, I have noticed a lot of DMs in my inbox containing weird messages accompanied by a short URL. Twitters @SPAM acount wrote a few days ago: Getting weird DMs? Probably due to phishing. Don’t go to the links sent in the DMs or give out your login & PW! It seems like the problem is spreading.
The phishing and spamming on Twitter is going on since January! Typical messages look like hi, find out if your iq is higher here http://pei****e.info or you’re on here lol http://v***tter.dfhjkdh.com. They know just how to get you curious enough to click the link, so it’s best to refrain from clicking any link in your DMs for a while. The link takes you to a Twitter login page. If you enter your password, rogue spammers abuse your twitter account to send private messages to you followers, possibly infecting them too. So don’t do it!
If you think some application is sending DMs in without your permission, look to revoke the permission rogue apps have at http://twitter.com/account/connections and change your password at http://twitter.com/account/password.
Twitter says: We’re working to reset PWs and notify users w/affected accounts in the meantime (but feel free to change your PW if worried!)
More on twitter phishing here:
http://mashable.com/2009/10/28/warning-new-twitter-phishing-scam-spreading-via-direct-message/