The "vote for me" scam: How to lose your X account permanently!

If you get a DM on X saying "vote for me," it is a scam. It will ask for your login credentials for X. At that point, kiss you X account goodbye FOREVER, because X will NOT allow you to recover it.

Executive summary

Two of my friends recently fell for the “vote for me” scam on X.

Their X account is now controlled by the scammers and it used to get other X accounts.

Once you are hacked, you’ll be PERMANENTLY locked out of your account because X support will refuse to give you your account back because your credentials don’t match the scammers who currently control your account.

NEVER ENTER YOUR ACCOUNT CREDENTIALS on request of your friends (or the platform itself). ALWAYS verify the URL in the address bar!!!

What the attack looks like (two examples of the same scam, but with a different story)

These are BOTH from accounts who got scammed. The conversation is with the scammer. Clicking the link will enable them to control your account.

X support will tell you to go away and stop bothering them if you get scammed. Your account is forever in their control.

The reason they like X is because other providers make it easy for you to get your account back.

X allows the scammer to control your account and will not take action to help you recover it.

This is what happened to Norman Fenton (who has a blue check) when he tried to get his account back. They told him to go away.

So kiss your account good-bye if you get scammed.

If any of my readers work at X, please let us know why X can’t solve this problem while other platforms can?

Note there is no option to report an account takeover by a scammer.

So account takeovers are basically permanent.