IF YOUR Instagram account is dear to your heart, be careful as scammers want to make it dear on your pocket too.
The latest con trick sees crooks DM users about a fake copyright breach concerning a photo on their account.
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They’re threatened with suspension unless they fill in a form.
Except the form is not to be trusted, it takes people to a dodgy website made to look like a real Instagram site.
At this point, it’ll ask you to login, which is where the headache begins for victims.
As it’s a bogus page, hackers can then copy that information to log into your Instagram account and hold it to ransom.
The perpetrators move fast, changing your password so you can’t get back in unless you pay up.
While it’s a serious problem that could affect anyone, experts from SecureWorks say fraudsters are mainly targeting influencers, big firms and people with large followings.
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This is because their Instagram account is more precious to them, in many cases how they make a living, so they’re more likely to desperately pay up.
Whereas ordinary folk might be a bit miffed but will probably just report the account and set up a new one.
After the scammer gains access to an account, they unashamedly put on their victim’s bio: “This Instagram account is held to be sold back to its owner.”
Below, there is usually a WhatsApp domain or phone number for the person to contact and negotiate a ransom price.
Experts believe the malicious campaign is being run by a group called pharabenfarway based in Turkey and started sometime in August 2021.
While it’s not clear how much they demand, researchers have seen hijacked Instagram accounts advertised for up to $40,000/£29,600, so it doesn’t look like getting it back will come cheap.
“While social media account takeover may seem insignificant, threat actors could access email accounts or other corporate resources if passwords were reused,” experts warn.
“Additionally, threat actors could abuse hijacked accounts to damage the organisation’s brand as further leverage to obtain a ransom payment.”
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Warning over phone scammers claiming to be police officers and demanding up to $3,600 ‘to avoid being arrested’
In other news, a new space station for Tom Cruise to shoot movies on has caused jaws to drop for all the wrong reasons.
Scientists have pinpointed when they believe the Sun will explode and wipe out everything on Earth in the process.
And Apple is working on a fix for a recently discovered bug that is capable of exposing the personal data of iPhone users.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
