Twitter is having trouble with identity theft phishers. According to the Financial Times technology blog, the service has warned users against messages from services claiming to have links to Twitter that request login information.
It cites specifically http://twitter.access-logins.com .
The blog adds that Twitterers have already been annoyed this week by twply.com, which offered a service promising to forward Twitter messages to users' inboxes. However, twply disingenuously used the account information to send out an advert via the user who had just signed up, which looked like a personal recommendation.
MrTweet, a similar service, was criticised for a similar offence last month, the blog says, sending out from users' accounts:
"Checking out @MrTweet, my personal assistant for discovering the great followers and influencers in my network!"
The spread of identity theft and spam to Twitter may appear inevitable: clearly users need to be more cautious about signing up for the constant stream of add-ons to the service. The add-ons also need to be transparent about how they may use login information.
Twitter itself should be looking to protects its user community or else it's going to find they've fluttered off elsewhere. The blog says that at the moment, Twitter is simply advising users to change their passwords if they think their account has been compromised.