{"id":14362,"date":"2024-06-10T12:12:27","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T09:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362"},"modified":"2024-06-10T12:12:27","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T09:12:27","slug":"scammers-use-fake-x-accounts-to-impersonate-airlines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362","title":{"rendered":"Scammers use fake X accounts to impersonate airlines"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Holidaymakers are being warned about a rise in scams where fake social media accounts are used to impersonate airlines.<\/p>\n

Bogus accounts exist for every major UK airline on X, formerly known as Twitter, and are regularly used to trick customers into giving away their personal data, according to consumer association Which?.<\/p>\n

It added that X is too slow to take down offending accounts.<\/p>\n

The social media platform said accounts that impersonate organisations may be permanently suspended under its “misleading and deceptive identities policy”.<\/p>\n

It previously told Which? that it had taken down all of the fake accounts identified by the consumer group.<\/p>\n

The scam often happens when a frustrated customer tries to contact an airline to try to fix a problem, said Which?<\/p>\n

It said scammers crawl social media \u2013 often using bots, a type of automated software \u2013 to find such interactions.<\/p>\n

They then respond to the query or complaint, hoping that the customer will not notice they are being contacted by a fake account.<\/p>\n

Which? gave the example of a researcher who contacted the genuine Wizz Air X account, @wizzair, asking if a flight was delayed, and almost immediately received responses from two fake accounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth used near-identical language, apologising for the inconvenience, stating that they had \u2018already escalated this matter to the relevant department\u2019 and requesting a \u2018reachable WhatsApp number for assistance\u2019 via DM [direct message],\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Every major airline affected<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Scammers will often ask customers to send them sensitive personal data, or direct them to phishing websites where their credit card details can be harvested.<\/p>\n

Some fraudsters also claim customers are entitled to compensation or ask for a small fee to resolve the issue.<\/p>\n

Which? said it had found bogus X accounts impersonating every major airline operating in the UK including British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, Tui, Virgin Atlantic and Wizz Air.<\/p>\n

It said reporting fake accounts to X \u201cseems to have limited effect\u201d and that most of the bogus posts and accounts it flagged \u201cwere still live at the time of writing\u201d.<\/p>\n

An X spokesperson told the BBC: \u201cOn X, you may not misappropriate the identity of individuals, groups, or organisations or use a fake identity to deceive others.<\/p>\n

“Accounts that pose as another person, group, or organisation in a confusing or deceptive manner may be permanently suspended under X\u2019s misleading and deceptive identities policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Airlines are urging customers to be wary of fake accounts and not share personal data on social media.<\/p>\n

An easyJet spokesperson said: \u201cWe advise customers to only follow and engage with our sole official channel @easyJet, which is identifiable by the gold verification badge for official businesses, for the latest updates or to seek support and to be vigilant and to not engage with or click on any links from other accounts.”<\/p>\n

A Wizz Air spokesperson said: \u201cWe continue to report fake social media accounts and would like to remind customers to never give their personal details out on these channels. Passengers should contact customer service via our claims or call centres.\u201d<\/p>\n

source:https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cp3371r7l1vo<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Holidaymakers are being warned about a rise in scams where fake social media accounts are used to impersonate airlines. Bogus accounts exist for every major UK airline on X, formerly known as Twitter, and are regularly used to trick customers into giving away their personal data, according to consumer association Which?. It added that X …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":null,"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[96,102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-featured-en"],"yoast_head":"\nScammers use fake X accounts to impersonate airlines - aviation news<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scammers use fake X accounts to impersonate airlines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Holidaymakers are being warned about a rise in scams where fake social media accounts are used to impersonate airlines. Bogus accounts exist for every major UK airline on X, formerly known as Twitter, and are regularly used to trick customers into giving away their personal data, according to consumer association Which?. It added that X …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"aviation news\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100088552298353\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-10T09:12:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-10-121131.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1157\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"611\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"adminnews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@aviationne428\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aviationne428\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"adminnews\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?p=14362#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?p=14362\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"adminnews\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/02e91cef3ca1560c153b683711401bd3\"},\"headline\":\"Scammers use fake X accounts to impersonate airlines\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-10T09:12:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?p=14362\"},\"wordCount\":521,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?p=14362#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/Screenshot-2024-06-10-121131.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Aviation world\",\"Featured\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?p=14362\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?p=14362\",\"name\":\"Scammers use fake X accounts to impersonate airlines - aviation news\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?p=14362#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?p=14362#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/Screenshot-2024-06-10-121131.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-10T09:12:27+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?p=14362#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?p=14362\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?p=14362#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/Screenshot-2024-06-10-121131.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/Screenshot-2024-06-10-121131.png\",\"width\":1157,\"height\":611},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?p=14362#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Scammers use fake X accounts to impersonate airlines\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/\",\"name\":\"aviation news\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"aviation news\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/aviation-news-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/aviation-news-logo.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":154,\"caption\":\"aviation news\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/profile.php?id=100088552298353\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/aviationne428\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/02e91cef3ca1560c153b683711401bd3\",\"name\":\"adminnews\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/aviationnews-inetrnational.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aviation-news.info\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Scammers use fake X accounts to impersonate airlines - aviation news","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Scammers use fake X accounts to impersonate airlines","og_description":"Holidaymakers are being warned about a rise in scams where fake social media accounts are used to impersonate airlines. Bogus accounts exist for every major UK airline on X, formerly known as Twitter, and are regularly used to trick customers into giving away their personal data, according to consumer association Which?. It added that X …","og_url":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362","og_site_name":"aviation news","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100088552298353","article_published_time":"2024-06-10T09:12:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1157,"height":611,"url":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-10-121131.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"adminnews","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@aviationne428","twitter_site":"@aviationne428","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"adminnews","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362"},"author":{"name":"adminnews","@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/#\/schema\/person\/02e91cef3ca1560c153b683711401bd3"},"headline":"Scammers use fake X accounts to impersonate airlines","datePublished":"2024-06-10T09:12:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362"},"wordCount":521,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-10-121131.png","articleSection":["Aviation world","Featured"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362","url":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362","name":"Scammers use fake X accounts to impersonate airlines - aviation news","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-10-121131.png","datePublished":"2024-06-10T09:12:27+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-10-121131.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-10-121131.png","width":1157,"height":611},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=14362#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Scammers use fake X accounts to impersonate airlines"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/#website","url":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/","name":"aviation news","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/#organization","name":"aviation news","url":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/aviation-news-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/aviation-news-logo.png","width":500,"height":154,"caption":"aviation news"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100088552298353","https:\/\/x.com\/aviationne428"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/#\/schema\/person\/02e91cef3ca1560c153b683711401bd3","name":"adminnews","sameAs":["https:\/\/aviationnews-inetrnational.com"],"url":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-10-121131.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}