Lately on Instagram we’ve been seeing a lot of people getting hacked and/or scammed. A lot of people think it will never happen to them but in reality, it can happen to anyone. But don’t worry there are a few steps you can take to protect yourself from Instagram scams.
1. Set up 2 factor authentication (2FA). 2FA will send you code to your mobile phone number that you will have to enter in in order to log in. This will make it harder for a hacker to get into your account.
2. Do not reply to weird messages. Often time we see messages where people offer you money or say you won a prize. These are always scams. No one will message you out of the blue and offer to give you money for no reason. Do not respond and report the account.
3. Don’t click suspicious links. If an account messages you and asks you to click the link do not do so unless you know it’s a trusted source. But be careful even if it is someone you know because they’re account could have been hacked and it could be a hacker posing as that person. Trust your gut. If it looks suspicious it probably is.
4. Check the account the messages are coming from. One scam we see often is hacker will create a new account using the same profile picture and change just one letter or number in the username and pose as that account. We see this a lot usually after a user posts a giveaway the scammers will create this fake account then message you that you won, then proceed to ask you for your credit card information or other personal information. So before you respond double check the account it’s coming from.
5. If your account does happen to get hacked, follow the steps to recover it that can be found here https://help.instagram.com/149494825257596. You can also ask friends and family to report the account.
In the end the best way to protect yourself on Instagram and other social media platforms is to be cautious and use common sense. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
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