Costly Bluesky mistake could cost you £230 as experts warn over ‘critical red flag’ you should never ignore

SWINDLERS are trying to cash in on the rush to Bluesky with a costly con.

The social media app has surged in popularity as users flee X, formerly known as Twitter.

Bluesky is a similarly designed app that lets users follow each other and share posts.

The app launched in 2019 as a Twitter project, but was split off in October 2022 – and launched as an invite-only offering in February 2023.

Bluesky stopped asking for invites earlier this year, letting anyone sign up for free.

But The Sun has found listings on eBay where people are still trying to flog Bluesky invitations – even though they're not needed.

The invites being peddled on eBay typically cost between £5 and £20.

But one listing was demanding as much as $300 for an invitation to the app – or around £230.

Cyber-experts have warned The Sun's readers against falling for these listings.

"Invites are no longer needed for BSKY," said Thomas Richards, principal consultant at Black Duck, speaking to The Sun.

"Users should always go directly to the website to create accounts.

"And be mindful that the domain name is 'bsky.app', which is slightly different than the typical .com we are accustomed to."

Invitations were no longer required from February 2024.

The company announced it with a blog post titled: "Bye, invites!".

It read: "Bluesky is building an open social network where anyone can contribute, while still providing an easy-to-use experience for users.

"For the past year, we used invite codes to help us manage growth while we built features like moderation tooling, custom feeds, and more. Now, we’re ready for anyone to join."

Bluesky added that it had as many as three million members at the time.

Now the app has an estimated 20 million users as membership surges – linked to an exodus from Elon Musk's X app.

We spoke to security expert Graeme Stewart, who warned that will try to take advantage of people rushing to Bluesky.

"The rise of a new tech movement like BlueSky often attracts not just enthusiasts but also scammers looking to exploit the buzz," Graeme, head of public sector at Check Point Software, told The Sun.