Twitter was forced to warn users about a hoax that can lock users out of their accounts.

The prank, of unknown origin, informed users that they could unlock a new app colour scheme by switching their birthday info to 2007.

The rumour turned out to be a hoax that fooled a number of people, locking them out of their Twitter accounts. The scam abuses Twitter’s policy for not letting anyone below the age of 13 use the platform, which can come into effect if a user switches their birthday to a year showing them to be younger than 13 years old.

Oldest trick in the book

A spokesperson declined to comment, but the company put out a public statement to everyone about the hoax.

"We've noticed a prank trying to get people to change their Twitter birthday in their profile to 2007 to unlock new colour schemes. Please don't do this. You'll get locked out for being under 13 years old." The company tweeted via its support account.

Twitter also stated that anyone who was affected by the prank could fill out an online form and receive an email to regain control of their account.

Within the span of a few days, tweets sharing the hoax around received thousands of retweets, fooling others who didn’t have any idea that the info was bogus. Many users appeared frustrated by it, while others had a  sense of humour about the situation.