#SocialMediaPSA: My Story of Twitter Theft

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Social media has been at the epicenter of a lot of things in modern life. From entertainment, to news, to personal posts and online friendships; we as an online community love Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I’m sure some readers will even remember their MySpace days.

Since creating a Facebook back in the sixth grade, I have been warned of people interfering with my social media. I figured I always had a secure account on any of the platforms I use. However, I stand corrected on the idea that I had security.

The other day, after I had just finished a game and wanted more information, I decided to check my Twitter for the first time in forever. I figured I had a normal Twitter prior to what transpired. I followed people who liked to geek out on the same stuff I like: movies, music, news, and animation. I was the typical teenage dork, but I at least had a clean and respectable Twitter.

I had the same expectations when I logged into my account on this particular day. Unfortunately, I was left sitting and staring at something else entirely.

I do not know if my account was hacked, stolen or if Twitter gave my tag away for my lack of use (Is that a possibility?). When the page opened up and the first thing I saw was “This account is suspended”. I looked down and someone had my (former) twitter tag @ERICxDRAKE. It was taken by some girl named Kathy Thomson. Puzzled, I tried to look into this and I saw her posts. Smut. Smut. And more smut. She ruined my account with her promiscuous posts, nasty words and borderline pornographic self-image. Luckily, Twitter blocked everything tied to the account, and now it is non-accessible.

Currently, I am trying to deactivate the account entirely so it cannot be traced and tied to me. This is not my fault. This is not my doing. This is not what I put onto the internet, nor what I wish to see when it comes to anything regarding me.

Readers, take this as a cautionary tale. Be safe with passwords and other encrypted personal information. Social media can be a super fun and interesting place to make friends and get into the world, but it comes as a double edged sword. When in the wrong hands, it can be something to destroy everything you are. I was lucky it was stopped before things became chaos.