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There's apparently scammers going round pretending to be Mastodon admins, demanding people "verify their identity".
Do not click on their links, do not give them any info. It is a scam. Genuine Mastodon server admins never demand verification like this.
Here's a guide to how to recognise and avoid various kinds of scams on Mastodon and the wider Fediverse:
➡️ fedi.tips/how-to-avoid-scammer…
(Thanks to @amministratore for providing warning about the latest wave of scam posts.)
How to avoid scammers on Mastodon and the Fediverse | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse
An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the FediverseFediTips (Fedi.Tips - An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse)
This entry was edited (Thursday, July 23, 2026, 10:50 AM)
Hypolite Petovan likes this.
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sven_md
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •good to know, not just on here, also when staff hint what do avoid - on other platforms too.
thanks for sharing, fedi's cool also cool to see pics of what not to tap or to rather ignore...
Su_G reshared this.
Fedi.Tips
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •p.s. The scammers are apparently messaging people about "suspicious activity" and "guideline violations" claiming that the victim's Mastodon account will be deleted if they don't verify their identity within 24 hours.
This is a lie designed by the scammers to panic their victims into sending personal details without pausing to think.
Genuine Mastodon admins never ever send messages like that.
(Thanks again to @amministratore for the extra details!)
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Alexa Devreux-Swift, Disisdeguey🍉🔻PalestineAction🇵🇸, DeltaLima 🐧, Jan Beta, ㄒ丨乇爪卩ㄖ, Kim Possible, linjari, Marc "A radical leftist" Godin, JimmyB (he/him), pancakes🔜Bed, StoneBear, Logan Five Thousand, Hugs4friends ♾🇺🇦 🇵🇸😷, C. R. Collins 🌳 🐸, Dizzy 0069 Stiff Assed Crip, Wurzelmann, Mirishuli, The Tattooed Nonna 🧙♀️, Fox Trenton 🎱, Dr. Sobek, Lord Caramac the Clueless, KSC, marzuq märzenbecher, Elyse M Grasso, Kevin Russell, cob, LillyLyle/Count Melancholia, Eye, Graham Palmer, Alien_Sunset and Misha reshared this.
mastodon admin
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •Thanks for sharing it! 😊
It happened early this morning. I didn't realize we were the only instance affected. We removed the account within a few minutes, so perhaps they decided it was no longer worth trying elsewhere after being caught so quickly. 😄
Hugs4friends ♾🇺🇦 🇵🇸😷 reshared this.
Fedi.Tips
in reply to mastodon admin • • •Hopefully they have given up!
However, there have been several previous waves of almost identical scams, so it's useful anyway to warn people against this.
I'm guessing they repeated this scam today because verification has been in the news today (due to France's ID decision), and this kind of news helps scammers gain credibility. Previous scam waves have happened when verification laws have been in the news too.
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Babys in a thundercloud 🏳⚧️
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •TelH90
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •Ikkqqstudio
in reply to Fedi.Tips • •like this
mastodon admin and Fedi.Tips like this.
FLOSSbOxIN
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •Erwan 🚄
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •reshared this
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Laura
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •rzeta0
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •age and therefore id verification is coming to mastodon because of the law
is there any 3rd party (or even 2nd party) that we should trust with such personal data?
Stefan Scholl
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •#Mastodon is important enough to get targeted with scams.
Yesterday I got a #Gaza scam I usually get sporadically on #Bluesky.
By triggering a notification (like, follow, etc.), they trick you into reading their profile where they lie about a good cause and want you to donate money.
EvoScale
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •Unfortunately, with AI and its accelerated proliferation, the cumulative potential of instances being hacked, along with admin accounts spoofed, can lead to a significant fedi destabilization.
May be time to re-prioritize backup plans... at SEVERAL critical scales.
SkyBlitz
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •best way to be futur proof on any social.
If you receive this try to post something.
If the app allow you to post it's a scam.
because if you are REQUIRED to verify they definitively will prevent you to post until verified.
Daniel Fisher(lennybacon)
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •[Nima@NimaOS ~]#
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •inpc
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •that's not scammers, that's the UK government...
Oh wait, they're scammers too.
Fifo™
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •Moosey
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •Trump & Epstein: Biz partners.
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •Here's a SHORTER guide:
NEVER give out your personal information to an unsolicited online link.
TED Talk over. 👍
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Adrian Seidelman
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •guddy.thedesigner🎨
in reply to Fedi.Tips • • •Fedi.Tips
in reply to guddy.thedesigner🎨 • • •@Giddy
Yup, it's not a new trick on here either.
It seems to reappear every time there is a news story about a government somewhere demanding ID verification, the scammers are counting on people thinking it is now a requirement.