Tried Changing My Twitter Name to Elon Musk, Got My Account Locked

Twitter locks unverified profiles whose names are changed to Elon Musk in its fight against cryptocurrency scams.

The lock on unverified profiles on changing name to Elon Musk adds to Twitter’s efforts to fight cryptocurrency scams.

(Photo: Twitter/@elonmusk - altered by The Quint)

Intensifying its crackdown on cryptocurrency scammers, Twitter now automatically locks unverified accounts that change their name to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. However, this step is only to verify the authenticity of your account and after verifying also, one can keep the Elon Musk username if he/she feels like.

According to The Verge, this measure has been taken to take care of the bots on Twitter that can imitate Elon Musk's Twitter profile to scam users by replying on Musk's tweets.

The message that pops up if you change your name to Elon Musk.(Photo: Screengrab)

On a non-verified account, if you change your name to Elon Musk, you are immediately locked out of your profile. Twitter then asks you to complete a Captcha authentication and verify your phone number by sending an OTP to your phone, using which you can unlock your account.

After you unlock your account, the Elon Musk user name stays.(Photo: Screengrab)

Here’s how Elon Musk’s profile name has been used to scam people. Often any account with the display name ‘Elon Musk’ and the same profile picture can reply to one of Musk’s real tweets, making the scam message look like a message from Musk on the same thread, fooling people into believing the message is from the Tesla CEO.

These fake tweets are quite monotonous in nature. Users are offered a chance to get on the inside of a new blockchain technology, all they have to do is take out a little cash for a new cryptocurrency you have never heard of, The Verge reported.

Elon Musk in fact, himself appreciated the mind going into such scams earlier this month:

Musk is not the only tech leader who has been subjected to such scams. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has also been targeted frequently. So much so that he has the phrase "Not giving away ETH" in his profile name and bio.

Twitter has said that it is working on additional solutions to such problem. Last month, it acquired a cyber security startup called Smyte to help it with challenges relating to safety, spam and security better.

(With inputs from The Verge.)