Domain investor and harpist, Nadia Pessoa, managed to recover her stolen premium Twitter account, @Harp, but it took quite the effort.
Twitter support basically consists of bots automating tasks, and in order for a stolen handle to be returned, manual intervention is required.
It wasn’t as bad as in the case of Mike Berkens, who lost control of @TheDomains for more than a week. Mike’s past experience helped a lot in this recent case, but what can the average Joe do to prevent Twitter username theft?
Basically, turning on two factor authentication is a must.
Do not rely on the default settings that end up sharing hints about your email address. While lengthy, complex passwords help, two factor authentication will stop any such attempts dead in their track.
Why are Twitter account thieves pursue such premium accounts?
Although the sale of Twitter accounts is prohibited, such trades for money occur very often. If the Twitter handle is a premium, dictionary word, or just a few letters long, price can be in the thousands of dollars. A Twitter account thief would attempt to sell it quickly, making easy money in the process.
Thanks, DG! I’m very relieved to have it back, thanks in part to members of the domain community stepping up to help. Thank you to you, Richard Dynas, George Kirikos, Raymond Hackney, and Mike Berkens, for his expertise and influence in having dealt with this situation. I sent Twitter a 6-page PDF with a signed statement, email records, screenshots, and Google search results bearing my name. It was quite an ordeal. Fortunately Twitter Support replied and restored access to the account before I had to ramp up efforts on my end and talk to an attorney. Thank you to everyone who helped spread the word — the support and willingness to “spring into action” in the domain community never ceases to amaze me.