My Twitter Name Was Stolen

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My History

I opened a Twitter account on March 11, 2007.

The name was @animal.

Shannon Seery was my first follower.

There's lots of proof. You can check this out.

I have over 9,000 followers -- and hundreds - maybe even thousands - will swear they know me as @animal.

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My Problem

On Tuesday, June 19, 2012, I found that I could not sign into my Twitter account.

I requested my password using my regular email account. I received an email and I changed my password to a stronger one.

That logged me into Twitter but then I found that my name was now @animaliaaa2 and @animal was on an account that had a picture of an egg, no name and no postings.

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That same day the new owner posted 3 tweets taunting me and I managed to grab one before he deleted them.

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Then, he changed his name to Mikey and said:

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Twitter's Reply

I wrote to Twitter support as soon as I saw the problem.

Here's where it ended. On Tuesday June 26, 2012 someone named TRex from support@twitter.zendesk.com sent me the reply below:

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TRex, Jun 26 11:32 am (PDT):

Hello,

Glad to hear you're back into your account now! Once a username is freed up (for example, through a username change) that name becomes available for new or existing accounts to claim.

I reviewed the account currently at the username @USERNAME, and this account appears to be a legitimate account that claimed the username in the normal process of creating their Twitter account.

We don't reclaim usernames from active accounts that aren't in violation of our rules or Terms of Service. I'm really sorry, but that username is not currently available to return to your account. Please let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Thanks,

TRex

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Here is the email he was responding to.

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animaliaaa2, Jun 21 11:12 am (PDT):

 

My Twitter name - @animal has been stolen.

I have been automatically assigned the name @animaliaaa2 I assume by the hacker who took my name.

 

You told me that @animal is now associated with a hotmail address. That must be the email address of the person who stole my name.

 

The last time I had control of @animal was Mon June 18, 2012

I can get many many people to swear that @animal is my name. You can see yourself that my account - now under the phony @animaliaaa2 name has over 9,000 followers.

 

Please help me. Don't send me to the password request page again.

Thanks.

 

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 Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

Even if the thief abandoned the name and Mikey picked it up that didn't entitle him to stolen property.

It was easy to see that something had gone wrong and Twitter didn't make a legitimate attempt to help me.

As Clarence Thomas said: it was Kafkaesque.

We are at the mercy of social media giants who are not accountable to anyone. You can put years into the development of an online presence and Linkedin, Facebook, Google or Twitter can screw it up in a minute and you have no rights and no one to appeal to but them. You're at the mercy of their whims.

They don't even take phone calls. Call Twitter and see what happens. The receptionist acts like you've committed a crime.

@GirlGeeks woke up one morning and found that Twitter had given her name to someone else. Read about it here -- and here.

You'll see that what @TRex told me about reclaiming names is not true at all. This is from Twitter's Terms of Service.

We reserve the right at all times (but will not have an obligation) to remove or refuse to distribute any Content on the Services and to terminate users or reclaim usernames.

And they did, in fact, reclaim the @girlgeeks name without warning.

@JoanGinsburg wrote about my case here.

Mike Harding - @Mah1 - wrote about it here

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My friends took action.

@MaureenSharib called Twitter

@StacyZapar contacted @TinaBhatnagar, the Director of Customer Service at Twitter. Tina emailed Stacy that she had escalated my issue to the Dept of Trust and Safety but nothing happened at all.

@GaryVee said he wd get one of his people to look into it.

@Kazanjy said he wd speak to a product manager at Twitter.

@Blogging4Jobs spoke to @SexyThinker who said she would contact her contact at Twitter

@MissDestructo got in touch with her contact at Twitter

And @JobSearchCoach got me a contact who has a backdoor to Twitter as well

Lots of people sent tweets to @TinaBhatnagar, @Delbius (The Director of Trust and Safety, @dickC (the CEO) and others. Nothing happened.

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@MissDestructo told me that the same thing happened to a fellow named @Weave. It took 17 days to resolve.

@PeopleShark told me that I'm dealing with a bot. She said the problem will eventually be solved and I sure hoped so.

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Klout

Did you notice above that my nemesis had a Klout score of 60 -- with a handful of postings and 6 followers from the Recruitosphere?

Shouldn't that have told anyone with a brain that something was wrong?

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Here are links to comments by my followers and friends.

https://twitter.com/proactivemployr/status/220837750394454017

https://twitter.com/RecruiterAT/status/218396577667104770

https://twitter.com/ResumeStrategy/status/220741157964087297

https://twitter.com/ResumeStrategy/status/220934582025981954

https://twitter.com/ExpertResumeMan/status/220619587018960896

https://twitter.com/DerekStolpa/status/220569749707423744

https://twitter.com/MikeOwcarz/status/220339579306258432

https://twitter.com/MountRec/status/220252458973265920

https://twitter.com/CarlissaT/status/219653500160851968

https://twitter.com/StacyZapar/status/218781112510586880

https://twitter.com/AlaRecruiter/status/218775943383224322

https://twitter.com/Le_Brenda/status/218547927474384897

https://twitter.com/RecruitMoore/status/218450528861040642

https://twitter.com/RLavigne42/status/218477582167973890

https://twitter.com/MaureenSharib/status/218462778371997696

https://twitter.com/JobSearchCoach/status/218392225896333313

https://twitter.com/MiraGreenland/status/218384467084058624

https://twitter.com/Mark_Quinnelly/status/218357225377370112

https://twitter.com/Keppie_Careers/status/218354719767277568

https://twitter.com/Keppie_Careers/status/218356978114768898

https://twitter.com/MMorettini/status/218340815544664065

https://twitter.com/1CoraMae/status/218337031414235137

https://twitter.com/SiteAdvisor/status/218330864612933632

https://twitter.com/careersherpa/status/218323613995118594

https://twitter.com/ed_han/status/218315675679207426

https://twitter.com/LarryEngel/status/218167034775744512

https://twitter.com/seerysm/status/218124372945289217

https://twitter.com/jasonalba/status/218119967500021760

https://twitter.com/CynthiaSchames/status/218109830139875328

https://twitter.com/StephenMRIs/status/218095585104896000

https://twitter.com/Weave/status/218106583001997313

https://twitter.com/HungLee/status/218069611923517441

https://twitter.com/MatthewJLeBlanc/status/218050089686544388

https://twitter.com/HeatherEColeman/status/218052964105994240

https://twitter.com/ErinKennedyCPRW/status/218041717033672705

https://twitter.com/IrishRecruiter/status/218032601640865794

https://twitter.com/DarrylRMSG/status/218013221288804352

https://twitter.com/sullivanmarkd/status/218012790185668608

https://twitter.com/LiamFTWI/status/217988308691718144

https://twitter.com/MikeOwcarz/status/222145693983326209

And theré's plenty more.

The URL for this posting is: http://LiberateAnimal.info

 

Comments

[Maureen Sharib]

I watch Animal bitch and moan for several days over his stolen Twitter name (that he has worked SO DILIGENTLY into a brand).

I get sick of hearing the whining.

I find Twitter's phone number (easily) in the public domain
415 222 9670.
Right?

So's I calls in. The automaton Gatekeeper tells me to enter extensions and it further informs me that if all I have is a three number extension add a 1 in front of it.

Being an experienced phone sourcer I know that many companies (when they have only three number extensions) are smallish (at least when they start out) and I also know those extensions might start at 1. As in 001, 002, 003 BUT they're more likely to start in
the hundreds, as in at 100.

I also know the early extensions in many phone directories are given to the BIG CHEESES (and their Executive Assistants).

I dial 1101 - nothing.
I dial 1102 - nothing.
I dial 1103 and a receptionist ACTUALLY ANSWERS.
I hang uo and deliver the news to Animal.
He waffles.
I get pissed off.
I dial 1104 and a Laurel answers. I tell her who I am and I begin to tell her the problem abt the stolen Twitter name. She cuts in, almost stammering, and says, "We don't take phone calls. I don't know how you got this number but you're calling improperly."

"Improperly?" I answer. "I'll tell you what's improper-"
and she hung up on me.

Laurel, for you, honey, the phone number is in the public domain and your answering service INVITES people to dial extensions. So much for trying to save a Receptionist buck, huh?
:)

Amused, I report the findings to the Twitterverse.

I ask Animal to release the dogs.

He STILL waffles, trying to placate some of us who want to start a call campaign.

Will you join the Call Campaign?

Maureen Sharib
Phone Sourcer
513 899 9628

[Sponng]

I'll join the call in campaign. Get @Animal his ID back!

[Karla_porter]

It would be interesting to do a press release and get it out on the wire to see if someone picks it up.

[Ivan Stojanovic]

I got a t-Shirt from Twitter a few months back. It was a wrong size. I tried to ask for my size. Never got the right one...

I thought this was poor service from Twitter.

But the @Animal Story opens up a far more serious issue of Twitter as an operation.

[Erin Kennedy]

This is just plain scary.

I am sure you are not the first person this has happened to.

If Twitter won't fix it, that means we are all susceptible to this kind of hacking and follow up treatment from Twitter?

I'm definitely going to RT this.

Erin

[Lizzie]

That is the most ridiculous story, but, unfortunately, it's not the first one I've heard like it...

I can't believe they won't do anything for you ... but I can, really. Twitter's customer service is the WORST.

THE WORST.

I'm seriously shaking thinking about all the times they've been shitty to me in the past.

We've got some accounts people we know on the case here, but I haven't heard much back ... I wonder if they'll do anything.

[Al]

The same thing is happening to me at this very moment. Someone changed my name and email address to something I have no idea about and no one is helping me figure this damn thing out. If anyone can help, please contact me at claxtonaj@yahoo.com

[Jill Elswick]

I"m very impressed with Maureen Sharib's effort. Good tips on how to get through to corporate extensions. Congrats to everyone who helped @Animal get his account back. Now, if there were only a mechanism to report this specific issue to Twitter, for other people who do not have such wonderful friends to help them out.

As for me, I'll be changing my Twitter password (and other passwords) regularly. I've seen too many people have their accounts compromised recently. Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites are not set up to provide customer service.

NOTE FROM THE RECRUITING ANIMAL: Jill, Maureen has special skills, you're right, and a lot of people did try to help me but it was all in vain. Twitter did not respond and did nothing to help me get my name back.

[AD Boob]

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