Hacked Pinterest Accounts Push Spam to Facebook and Twitter

A series of Pinterest accounts were reported as compromised, while disseminating spam on Twitter and Facebook. Users who cross-linked social networking accounts were unintentionally responsible for the spam.

Although Facebook reports on Pinterest spam messages were unfounded, Twitter posts revealed a high number of complaints regarding compromised accounts. The spam wave is losing momentum as users have been quick to change passwords.

“Peter`s just had his Pinterest account hacked by a spammer (password now changed) ” they post dubious adverts to your boards,“ said one user on Facebook. “Also one of his tablet apps started giving him pop up ads (hopefully now deleted). I blame the assignment on metadata that he`s just started for his Information Organisation and Description class.“

Users reported some of their boards were deleted or renamed, while others had their contents changed. This is not the first spam scheme launched via hacked Pinterest accounts, and Account Security support documents should provide enough information to users who have compromised accounts.

“If you notice boards, pins or other activity on your account that you did not create, it`s possible someone has gained access to your account,“ says the support document. “If you submit a ticket, please file it under Policy & Abuse -> Hacked Account.“

Twitter posts suggest some users took more radical measures, some shutting down their Pinterest accounts following the incident.

“Apparently my Pinterest account was hacked and that explained the weird tweets. And the weird pins. So I shut down Pinterest,“ said one Twitter user.