Instagram has been one of the social networks that has grown the most during the pandemic. More than 100 million active users on a monthly basis are too sweet an element not to go unnoticed, both for brands and for those who are looking for the different possible options to deceive people and get some economic return.
The smear campaigns regarding the different social networks are the order of the day, countered with forceful communications in which it is repeatedly stated that we work every day to protect ourselves and that we can manage and move through these digital environments in the safest way. possible. But all that glitters is not gold, far from it. You have to be very careful and be wary of publications, direct messages, comments or ads that seem strange to us because we could end up falling for a scam. Here we present the five most common scams on Instagram and how to avoid them from the hand of Josep Albors , Director of Research and Awareness of ESET Spain and author of the ‘blog Protect yourself’
Impersonation
One of the classic scams that are carried out in the web environment, and also in social networks, Instagram among them, is to get your credentials or personal data to put them at the service of third parties in exchange for a consideration or directly supplanting our identity and extort money from us. so that we pay to recover our account or not spread content that we are not interested in seeing the light.
The procedure is almost always through mail in which they claim to have something that interests you that you should check by clicking on a link or paying a certain amount of money.You never have to do it… not even if they give you an ‘atomic bomb’ style countdown. As we do not have to access any site by putting our passwords if we receive this type of messages because it could be precisely what they are looking for.
The best security measure that we can avoid to avoid the theft of our account is to have the double authentication factor activated
The best security measure that we can avoid to avoid the theft of our account is to have double authentication activated , so that , even stealing our credentials, criminals will not be able to access our account.
Cloned accounts
Another aspect that must be taken into account is the imitation effect. As with bags, glasses, shoes or watches, the accounts of well-known people, relevant entities or cultural or social institutions can be posted to try to deceive the user. This type of deception is usually detected quickly, simply by doing a slight review of the content it offers or the number of followers it has. But if this deception is with profiles of ordinary users to try to communicate with their friends and acquaintances, the company is complicated and the possibility that we can fall for the scam increases. If they ask you for financial help on Instagram, try to contrast it by other means with that same person in case it really is not she who is managing the account at that time.
If they ask you for financial help on Instagram, try to contrast it by other means with that same person in case it really is not she who is managing the account at that time
. There is nothing like a call to alert a family member or friend who has been been able to steal the account to deceive his followers without knowing them. And never provide data like account verification codes or anything like that, of course.
Fake account verification
Having a verified account has become synonymous with status on social networks and many anonymous people would do anything to get their favorite social network to agree to verify their profile. The owners of Twitter, Facebook or Instagram know this. And also the scammers who will not miss the opportunity to offer you the option of putting that desired badge on a tray in exchange for a modest price. Error! Currently the account verification process is only carried out by Instagram itself , so those messages are meat to disburse money for nothing.
The ‘love scammer’
Another of the most common methods to try to take money from us on Instagram without realizing it at first is the love deception method. What is known as emotional or romantic scammers. People who start by giving two or three likes to your posts, comment on them in a flattering way, follow you and start sending you private messages until they earn your trust.
People who start by giving two or three likes to your publications, comment on them in a flattering way, follow you and start sending you private messages until
they gain your trust and ask you for money. money to face an emergency and even be able to pay the ticket that would allow her to visit her new ‘love’. There are several cases that have appeared in the media in recent times, with scams above 70,000 euros.
Fraudulent stores
Finally, we come to the commercial scams . False advertisements that sneak in between the real investments of the brands to offer their products. Links that seem real and direct us to fraudulent websites. Here the important thing is to look at the same details as if we were facing cases of phishing or smishing. Protected web addresses with https://, certificate of authenticity and be wary of any exorbitant offer that comes from brands without reputation.
