While Twitter has always had a spam policy in place, up till now, it hasn't had a specific set of rules for financial scams and people using the platform in an attempt to dupe unsuspecting tweeters.
Now, Twitter's seeking to address this, with the introduction of a new set of rules focused on combating this element.
As explained by Twitter:
"Using scam tactics on Twitter to obtain money or private financial information is prohibited under this policy. You are not allowed to create accounts, post Tweets, or send Direct Messages that solicit engagement in such fraudulent schemes."
The new policy listing addresses four key types of scams:
- Relationship/trust-building scams - You may not deceive others into sending you money or personal financial information by operating a fake account or by posing as a public figure or an organization.
- Money-flipping schemes - You may not engage in “money flipping” schemes (for example, guaranteeing to send someone a large amount of money in return for a smaller initial payment via a wire transfer or prepaid debit card).
- Fraudulent discounts - You may not operate schemes which make discount offers to others wherein fulfillment of the offers is paid for using stolen credit cards and/or stolen financial credentials.
- Phishing scams. -You may not pose as or imply affiliation with banks or other financial institutions to acquire others’ personal financial information. Keep in mind that other forms of phishing to obtain such information are also in violation of our platform manipulation and spam policy.
In some ways, it may seem like Twitter would be less susceptible to financial scams - Twitter requires less personal or professional information than Facebook or LinkedIn, and the brevity of tweets at least gives the impression of distance, a divide between your on and off platform personas.
But Twitter has indeed seen its share of financial scams in recent times - in particular, Twitter has been home to a raft of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency scams, including some which have impersonated the accounts of well-known users in order to trick users into clicking through.
Twitter actually detailed its work on reducing crypto scams specifically back in June, as part of an update on how its acquisition of Smyte had helped boost its efforts.
Since last October, we have reduced impressions on cryptospam from 1 million per day, to less than 5,000 per day ????
— Pete Hunt (@floydophone) June 24, 2019
Clearly this is a key concern, and these new rules will help Twitter reduce this even further, better protecting users.
You can report financial scams on Twitter by going through the regular tweet reporting flow and selecting 'It's suspicious or Spam' then choosing the relevant option/s.