WindingPaths

Seen as: Verify your account / Your account has been locked Scam type(s): Phishing / Credit card stealer.

Hello everyone, this is a post going over the new scam floating around on tumblr where users are receiving DM's (and asks!) containing messages similar to the following:

Your Tumblr account has been temporarily locked due to security measures. Verify your account within 24 hours to stop permanent suspension.

Suspicious activity has been detected on your account! Our team has begun an investigation. To continue using your account, you must complete user verification.

Visual examples of this can be seen here:

Image 1 taken from this post, image 2 taken from this one.

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Do note that [tumblr], nor its staff, will ever contact users via asks, comments, or direct messages with issues related to your account.

[tumblr] will only contact you via their official email account that ends in tumblr.com.

[tumblr] will never ask you for money to 'verify' your account, to reactivate your account, to 'fix an issue', or anything similar to the sort.

[tumblr] will never threaten you that if you don't "pay them money" your information will be sent to the police, FBI, ect and you will be arrested for xyz reason.

[tumblr] does not use Discord. Nor do they use any other website than tumblr.com.

If you are contacted by a user who tries to get you to contact a staff member via 'email', a website, on discord, or on another website, this is 100% a scam. Please report the DM, and block the user immediately.

You can also go a step further and report a post the hacked account has made as: something else > unlawful use > phishing, and explain that it is a hacked account trying to perform the <insert scam type> scam.

Providing screenshots is also always a good idea in these situations as well. :)

The website.

Now you may be asking: okay, what does this website take you to?

Is it a copy of tumblr to get you to sign in?

Nope! It's much more sad and.. honestly pathetic than that.

It's a fake AI help bot plus a generic 'there was an error with your account. give us your credit card information now please :)' page.

If you notice- there's nothing that asks for anything related to your tumblr account. It's literally just "give us your credit card and personal information so we can steal your identity- I mean fix the issue."

They also set up a fake 'terms of service' popup as well which.. I'm not even gonna get into that. More or less saying things like 'we need this information to verify your account. This includes your name, address, ect.' One of which includes your government ID btw. NEVER give that to ANYONE for ANY reason.

Final thoughts:

This is a very.. sad, and pathetic attempt at a scam, but I know that people will unfortunately fall for it.

This is honestly no different than those "you have a package from the UPS click here" or "you owe money from a toll both click here" scams you get in texts, and I would think people would know that- by looking at the URL alone, this is not owned nor operated by [tumblr] in any regard.

Please make sure to share this and help others become aware of scams, the more people who learn about scams, the less likely they are to fall for them. :)

Take care, stay safe, and keep helping others.

"im cool with that person who hurt you actually and ik how much it damages your trust but we're still friends right"

"yeah i think queer people wouldnt have as many problems if they just like didnt make it their whole personality, unlike me-"

like… i don’t wanna be that person but be for real?? likes are cute and all but they do nothing for creators. ZERO. NADA. a reblog is literally the oxygen mask keeping this blue hellsite alive. you say you “love” a fic, an edit, a gifset? then BABES… reblog it. boost it. let it breathe.

half the time creators are out here pouring their entire soul, spine, AND three vertebrae into something just for it to get 200 likes and 3 reblogs, two of which are their own. that’s why people stop posting. that’s why fandoms feel empty. content doesn’t magically fall from the sky — it comes from people who feel seen.

and i promise you: reblogging is free. it costs you like 0.2 seconds and suddenly you’re personally responsible for keeping a whole fandom alive. congrats!! so yeah. if you like something? reblog it. scream in the tags. yell. keyboard smash. put sparkles. do whatever. just don’t let creators feel like they’re shouting into a void.

reblogs feed creators. reblogs keep fandoms thriving. reblogs literally save lives (okay maybe not literally but u get it).

okay i’m gonna say it: fandoms are kinda dying on tumblr, and they’re starving because nobody reblogs anymore.

like… i don’t wanna be that person but be for real?? likes are cute and all but they do nothing for creators. ZERO. NADA. a reblog is literally the oxygen mask keeping this blue hellsite alive. you say you “love” a fic, an edit, a gifset? then BABES… reblog it. boost it. let it breathe.

half the time creators are out here pouring their entire soul, spine, AND three vertebrae into something just for it to get 200 likes and 3 reblogs, two of which are their own. that’s why people stop posting. that’s why fandoms feel empty. content doesn’t magically fall from the sky — it comes from people who feel seen.

and i promise you: reblogging is free. it costs you like 0.2 seconds and suddenly you’re personally responsible for keeping a whole fandom alive. congrats!! so yeah. if you like something? reblog it. scream in the tags. yell. keyboard smash. put sparkles. do whatever. just don’t let creators feel like they’re shouting into a void.

reblogs feed creators. reblogs keep fandoms thriving. reblogs literally save lives (okay maybe not literally but u get it).

Bounce light is something I didn't cover but I adore it!

If I ever catch one of yall doing this to another author and I know youre a follower of my work I will block you personally on every platform

None of yall are the fic police. I DESPISE genai. I think its an insult to art, humanity, and the planet itself. But aint not a single fucking person here qualified to pick apart a strangers fic looking for a gotcha moment to make yourselves feel superior. If you think something is ai you can ask the author (most are proud of the ai use and will just tell you straight up) if they say yes you have your answer and can warn people. If they say no and you dont believe them you block and quietly keep it between you and maybe a close group of friends. Spreading misinformation is DANGEROUS. And NONE of you doing this shit are anywhere near qualified to do it.

You dont get to witch hunt and scour peoples work just frothing at the mouth hoping someone messes up so you can publicly humiliate and gang up on them. Fuck genai and every single poser and lover that uses it but if you are not 1000000000% certain that something is made with it you shut. the. fuck. up.

"hurr durr these very common writing practices are SUPER OBVIOUS AI TELLS!!!!!!!!!! obviously this is an AI invention and not the result of AI being trained on THOUSANDS OF REAL FUCKING STORIES!!!!!!! we're all very intelligent!!!!!!!"

I hate yall. I hate yall for fucking ruining fanfic with your goddamn motherfucking AI obsession. "ooh there's em dashes!" YEAH REAL WRITERS USE THOSE. "there's long paragraphs!" YEAH BECAUSE THATS HOW PEOPLE WRITE STORIES.

we're not "writing like AI" - AI is writing like us, because it fucking stole from us in the first fucking place.

I've never used AI in my work, not ever, but guess what, my fics are ALL written like that. long paragraphs, long sentences, em dashes and hyphens and other grammatical tools, because I fucking know HOW TO WRITE.

Everything alright on your dash board?

Saw a judgemental mean post on my dash that ticked me off bad enough I unfollowed the person who reblogged it lmao

Anyway, I do not care if someone woobifies, archetypes, 'sexy-mans' or has the most disagreeable interpretation and water downed interaction with a character that I absolutely despise, the moment you start to *look down* at someone for doing is going to send you down a path of fandom elitism and superiority judgement that rips out any fun and community

Princess Appreciation week starts on August 3rd! A beautiful and joyous time for producing fanart, fanfic, and other based on Ms Princess T. Princess!

A more detailed list of prompts and rules are available in the pinned post on this blog, though participants may also ignore the prompts and do their own thing if they so desire. There is also no obligation to produce something for every day!