Twitter users have criticised the social media platform's new 'blue tick' system after a user set up a fake account pretending to be money saving expert Martin Lewis.
Twitter, which was taken over by Elon Musk in October, confirmed it would be "winding down" its former verification programme from April 1, in which users could apply for a blue tick on their profile if they were a "notable" account such as a celebrity, politician or company. Instead, the platform said that people would need to be subscribed to Twitter Blue in order to get the checkmark, which costs £11 per month.
Some users raised concerns that the new system could lead to confusion when it comes to identifying trusted sources of information on Twitter - something which fraudsters could take advantage of. The new criteria listed for the new blue tick system includes being "non-deceptive", such as no recent changes having been made to a user's profile photo or username and no signs of being "misleading" - but this does not appear to have deterred some scammers from purchasing a blue tick to impersonating notable figures.
READ MORE: Martin Lewis gives warning on Good Morning Britain to everyone aged between 45 and 70
Twitter has now begun removing blue ticks for accounts that have not subscribed to Twitter Blue, and has removed the distinction between accounts that have a tick because they are notable and accounts that have merely paid for verification. While previously clicking on a user's profile would provide this information, now all blue tick accounts come with the same message that reads: "This account is verified because it's subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account".
MoneySavingExpert founder Martin, who is on Twitter under the username @MartinSLewis, confirmed that he had paid for a Twitter Blue subscription - but told followers that it was not a "recommendation or support" for the new system. He explained: "I'm in a peculiar position that scammers commonly impersonate me to steal from the vulnerable, so I feel obligated to do it to reduce that risk."
And on Monday, Martin shared a fake account to alert fans to a scam in which someone with a blue tick appeared to be using his name and image in order to promote cryptocurrency. The account, named @MartinXLewis, used a selfie of Martin as their profile picture and retweeted several of Martin's own tweets in a bid to convince Twitter users that they were the real thing.
The fake profile falsely claimed that Martin was introducing a cryptocurrency and stock trading platform run by MoneySavingExpert, encouraging users to visit the scam site. Sharing the account, the real Martin wrote: "So this FAKE ACCOUNT promoting crypto has a blue tick? Let's see whether it is taken down when I report this impersonation."
As of 1pm on Monday the impersonator account was still up on Twitter but had switched to private mode, meaning that anyone not following them was unable see their tweets - but not before gaining 25,000 followers. Several of Martin's followers criticised Twitter's new blue tick policy after learning of the scam.
"Twitter needs to create a better verification process so that this doesn't happen. Sorry this has happened to you Martin," one of Martin's followers wrote.
Another said: "Clear evidence of a disgraceful backward step in user protection here from Twitter and Elon Musk. The one thing worse than not verifying accounts is reassuring users by giving the impression you do but not verifying reliably."
"This is why paying for a blue tick is not really a good idea," a third follower remarked. "At least when it was a genuine verified tick it meant something."
READ NEXT:
Confusion as £400 energy bills support for households comes to an end
DWP warning to millions of benefit claimants who could be slapped with £50 fines
Seven things that will cost more from this weekend - from water bills to NHS prescriptions
All the money changes in April affecting you including DWP benefits and energy bills
Citizens Advice calls for upfront fees to be abolished to help people get out of debt
