Spammers invade Twitter's Vine service

It was only a matter of time before spammers invaded Vine, Twitter's rising six-second video service.

 

A report on The Daily Dot said its writer Fernando Alfonso III received several spam messages on Vine after he posted some videos.

  

"The fledgling network has caught fire since its January debut, boasting more than 13 million users prior to its debut on Android smartphones last week. As a service grows in popularity, it inevitably attracts spammers hoping to make a fast buck," it said.

 

The site advised Vine users not to visit the sites the spam messages promoted.

 

"And definitely don't offer up your email addresses. Just report them as spam, delete the comments and move on with your merry, mini-movie making life," it said.

 

The Daily Dot said that in Alfonso's case, the spam messages directed users to the site vinejump.com, supposedly to boost their follower count. Vinejump.com also urged users to enter their email address. Those who do are taken to a page instructing them to complete a survey for a chance to win an iPhone 5.

 

"All this probably does is put an affiliate fee in the scammer's pocket and dump your info into a marketer's mailing list," The Daily Dot said.

 

The site is registered to an address in New Jersey.

 

Meanwhile, The Daily Dot noted another scam site targeting Vine users called vinefollows.com, which asks for users' Vine usernames.

 

"Other scam sites are out there, including vine250.com—again, a site that appears almost exactly like vinejump.com," it said. —VC, GMA News