British consumer organization Which? has warned users about fake airline accounts on
Which? said virtually every major airline operating in Britain, including British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, Tui, Virgin Atlantic and Wizz Air, were all imitated.
The scammers’ modus operandi is quite simple: They use bots to automatically scour social media interactions, looking for people who are dissatisfied with their airline’s service – for example, a delayed flight, lost luggage, or something else.
Responding too slowly
The scammers then contacted the victim, either by posting a comment in the thread or contacting them directly. Their message would be almost identical to what the airlines usually post, apologizing for the inconvenience caused.
However, the message would also contain an additional link, which would lead to a malicious landing page where the attackers could collect people’s sensitive data. Alternatively, they would ask for their phone number so they can contact them directly and find a solution.
In this type of scam, the attackers hope that the victim does not realize that it is not an official account.
Which? also criticized X for being too slow to remove these accounts from the platform. Apparently reporting fake accounts to
X’s terms of use state that users impersonating organizations will be permanently banned, and Which? that it has removed all the fake accounts that the consumer group has identified.
Additionally, an X spokesperson told the publication: “On
“Accounts that confusingly or deceptively impersonate another person, group or organization may be permanently suspended under X’s Misleading and Deceptive Identity Policy.”
Through BBC