Scams
The Internet has become wildly popular amongst all the generations irrespective of their ages. From being used to buy groceries and connect to people halfway across the world to also be used to scam innocent people and steal all their money, Internet has become one whole important part of everyone’s lives. Instagram scams have become a major source of money for all the cybercriminals and online scammers out there. With all kinds of people from all the strata of age groups joining the social media platforms, it becomes easier for these cybercriminals to prey on these innocent victims as they have less or no knowledge about cybersecurity.
What Are Instagram Scams?
Instagram scammers are cybercriminals who adopt a variety of methods to convince you and make you the victim of theft or an online attack. The main motive of these fraudsters will be to steal something valuable like money or the confidential information of a person which can later be exploited or sold to some other person. Some types of cybercriminals would try to use you as a medium to spread fake information and other dangerous codes. What makes this difficult is the fact that these scammers use your emotions to play with you. Therefore, it is not always easy to be rationally minded in such situations and act practically. The professional scammers would always pay close attention to the minor details that you provide them with and then use it to prey on you. All you can do is to be very aware of all that is happening around you and not overshare with anyone.
Instagram phishing is one of the most common ways that cybercriminals steal your identity and your social media accounts. This type of scamming usually revolves around cybercriminals and online scammers urging you to send money or share your login details with them.
Types of Instagram Scams
Some of the major scams that Instagram security has identified by itself are:
- · Love is in the air – The cybercriminals in this case would try to gain your trust while pretending to be interested in you romantically. After realising that they have reached a trust point with the victim, they prey on the emotional side by asking for money.
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· Screams in money – These cybercriminals would often send you random messages and DMs claiming that you have won a lottery. They will then proceed to say that you would need to transfer an amount in order to receive the funds.
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· Job offers on Instagram – The online scammers operating on Instagram may text you stating that they have just the right job for you. They will then ask you for your bank details claiming to pay you in advance.
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· Paid subscription at discounted rates – One of the major ways through which these scammers may trick you into giving them money is by luring you on the pretext of offering a subscription to major web streaming services at discounted rates.
These are just some of the ways in which online scammers may attempt to scam you or someone close to you. We recommend always staying alert and not falling for these silly tricks.
