Show HN: IsItElon – Protect Your Loved Ones from Scammers on X | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: IsItElon – Protect Your Loved Ones from Scammers on X

regulaite.com

9 pointssomefries6 comments

I built this simple webpage to help prevent my aging mother from falling victim to scammers on X (formerly Twitter). She believed she was talking to Elon Musk, and despite numerous attempts to explain the situation, she wouldn't listen. Scammers posing as Elon convinced her that they were her boyfriend, and even tried to get her to send Bitcoin or buy gift cards.

This tool allows users to check if an X account really belongs to Elon Musk. It only recognizes the official @elonmusk handle, helping dispel any misconceptions about imposters using different accounts.

This little verifier finally convinced my mother. It might help protect your loved ones too—especially those who might not be as familiar with online scams. Feel free to use it if someone you care about is vulnerable to these kinds of tactics.

Open articleView on HN

Can you do one for verifying Nigerian princes?

Reminds me of the calls I get from my 89 year old grandma every once in a while, you might be on to something with this.

That's on the roadmap! lol So happy you appreciate it!

this is funny since there are thousand tribes with their own princes and a relarive happened to be married to one of them lol.

Got an idea for expanding this

'Is it my bank'

And you plug in the email address that comes from the scam email.....

If a girl is very interested in you on X, block him.

Given his recent activities, I'd suggest that things said by actual Elon musk are likely to be at best wishful thinking and at worst a scam, this should just return a hard coded "no, this is a scam" regardless of anything else.

But then it also worries me that someone would disregard the personal advice from their own (presumably) technically knowledgeable adult child, but then just as easily trust some random website about whether something is a scam.

What stops the scammers from setting up "Is it REALLY Elon?".

When I read stories like this I'm doubly thankful my aging parents have zero interest in social media. They do email, and FaceTime with family, and that's about it.

Maybe social media needs a maximum age as well as a minimum age.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com