Twitter is locking accounts posing as Elon Musk in an effort to fight cryptocurrency scams

AP

Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

• Twitter will now automatically lock any non-verified account which changes its display name to Elon Musk.
• This is an effort to combat a recent proliferation of cryptocurrency scam-bots, which target the replies under Musk's tweets.
• Any user who can authenticate their account will be allowed to retain the name Elon Musk.

Twitter has started locking any unverified accounts that change their name to Elon Musk in an effort to combat a rash of cryptocurrency scammers.

According to the Verge, any unverified account without an associated phone number will be immediately locked out if it changes its display name to Elon Musk. To regain access, the user will have to do a CAPTCHA (typing) test and provide a phone number.

This new measure is to combat a rash of spambots, which have been hijacking replies to Elon Musk's tweets. The bots bear Elon Musk's display name and profile picture, but their handles are different. One such example is the Elom Tusk account, which purported to be giving away free cryptocurrency.

Musk himself was aware of the bots abounding in his replies.

As bots are the primary focus of the crackdown, anyone who can prove the authenticity of their account is allowed to keep the name Elon Musk.

A Twitter spokesman told Business Insider: "As part of our continuing efforts to combat spam and malicious activity on our service, we're testing new measures to challenge accounts that use terms commonly associated with spam campaigns. We are continually refining these detections based on changes in spammy activity."

Business Insider has contacted Tesla for comment.