Discord’s Data Leak

If your teen games on their computer, they’re probably on Discord, a free chat app, and belong to “servers,” big chat rooms for one game or creator. When joining a new server, teens are made to click “verify,” a fake-account check run by an outside company called Double Counter, not Discord itself.

On October 4, hackers broke into Double Counter and stole info on 28 million Discord accounts: usernames and computer locations. A scammer who knows your teen’s location can make a message feel personal and scary: “I know you’re in Austin.” That fear is how a stranger threatens a teen.

Now may be a good time to open Discord’s settings and, under Content & Social, turn off direct messages from server members, so only friends can DM (direct message) them, not scammers.