Scam Warning: Twitter Users Report Being Mentioned in Cryptocurrency Tweets and/or Claiming They Won a Nintendo eShop Gift Card

Warnings are being posted on Twitter as cryptocurrency and gift card scams are on the rise. These scams reportedly began earlier this summer with users reportedly receiving mentions about cryptocurrency information, or claiming they’ve been selected as a winner for a Nintendo eShop gift card.

A few days ago, Twitter began cracking down on crypto accounts thanks to anyone having the ability purchase a blue check and making themselves verified. These tweets would have a “send us a private message” button, and accounts who do so can risk being shadow banned and having their replies hidden.

Additionally, Twitter is also seeing an uptick in Nintendo eShop gift card scams in the form of quote tweets. Earlier this year, Instagram users were being bombarded with mentions, both regular and in stories, claiming they won a Shein gift card. Filling out that form could lead to their information being passed to the Chinese government. Clicking any link in any of the tweets above could lead to spam or even malware.

This is known as a lottery scam, and it is an extremely widespread form of malware. This can most likely happen if you post a tweet in a questionable hashtag, or in some cases like, reply, or retweet a tweet from a questionable account. If you get tagged in one of these tweets or receive a quote tweet like this, the first thing to do is report the tweet as Spam and Platform Manipulation, and block the scammer’s account.

It is never safe to click on any link involving a lottery scam. The scammers’ goals are to get your personal information which they could use to pass to other criminals. If they force you to pay, they’ll also get your credit card information. Additionally, they can install software that is often malware, which can steal even more information or do malicious things on your device.

If this ever happened to you, please let us know in the comments, and we are happy to hear your story.