{"id":20785,"date":"2022-07-18T06:10:57","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T06:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/?p=20785"},"modified":"2022-07-18T06:10:57","modified_gmt":"2022-07-18T06:10:57","slug":"can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram","title":{"rendered":"Can You Be Scammed on Instagram?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_43 counter-flat ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69ef75f739b82\" class=\"cssicon\"><span style=\"display: flex;align-items: center;width: 35px;height: 30px;justify-content: center;direction:ltr;\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/label><label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69ef75f739b82\"  class=\"cssiconcheckbox\">1<\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69ef75f739b82\" ><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram\/#Can_You_Be_Scammed_on_Instagram\" title=\"Can You Be Scammed on Instagram?\">Can You Be Scammed on Instagram?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram\/#Impersonation_scams\" title=\"Impersonation scams\">Impersonation scams<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram\/#Cloned_login_pages\" title=\"Cloned login pages\">Cloned login pages<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram\/#Fake_direct_messages\" title=\"Fake direct messages\">Fake direct messages<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram\/#Cloned_profile_pictures\" title=\"Cloned profile pictures\">Cloned profile pictures<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram\/#Phishing_emails\" title=\"Phishing emails\">Phishing emails<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Can_You_Be_Scammed_on_Instagram\"><\/span>Can You Be Scammed on Instagram?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Can you be scammed on Instagram\" style=\"max-height:385px; width:auto; margin:0px 10px; max-width:34% height:auto;\" align=\"right\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/kxcK60l.jpg\"> <\/p>\n<p>Scammers use the login credentials of ordinary Instagram users to hack into your account. By changing your password and posing as the original user, they can wreak financial havoc on your account. Besides scamming other Instagram users, cybercriminals are sending fake links to their direct messages. These fraudulent links may even ask you to change your username and password to protect yourself. Read this article to prevent yourself from falling victim to Instagram scams and avoid becoming a victim.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Impersonation_scams\"><\/span>Impersonation scams<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The number of Instagram accounts claiming to be popular celebrities and models is increasing due to elaborate social engineering impersonation scams. Many of these scammers copy their victims&#8217; profiles and use their popularity to promote bogus crypto products or other scams. Recently, the Vancouver-based daily Hive published a story about a jewelry designer who was targeted by impersonators. The hacker gained access to her Instagram account by deceiving her followers and using her&#8217;real&#8217; reputation to defraud others. Other types of Instagram social engineering scams rely on getting victims to click on malicious links or install malware onto their computers.<\/p>\n<p>If you are a brand or celebrity and find that someone is impersonating you on social media, you can report their profile to Instagram. They will remove the account, but may require proof of identity to delete your profile. Make sure your name matches that on your ID. If your account is phishing-related, the impersonator will likely redirect your followers to a fake website or app. This not only hurts your reputation but also poses a real risk to consumers.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Cloned_login_pages\"><\/span>Cloned login pages<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Instagram users may be interested in cloned login pages to access the social network. Cloned Instagram login pages mimic the look of a real login page, and use the same CRUD operations as the real thing. To access these cloned pages, you will need to use an Instagram API key or token to log in. These authentications will help you distinguish logged-in users from those not logged in.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Fake_direct_messages\"><\/span>Fake direct messages<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Instagram users should be cautious about receiving direct messages from strangers. These messages may be phishing attempts, which appear to be legitimate accounts from your friends or other users. If you receive one of these messages, don&#8217;t reply to it. Never give any personal information to any account that you don&#8217;t recognize. You may not even be able to identify the sender. In this article, we&#8217;ll discuss how to identify a fake direct message and what to do to stop it.<\/p>\n<p>Some apps on Instagram can generate fake DMs for you. Fake Chat is one of them. It is simple to use, and creates fake Instagram direct messages. However, it has annoying pop-up ads. Another app to create fake conversations on Instagram is Funsta, which lets you comment on other people&#8217;s Instagram posts and add Instagram Stories. Besides sending fake direct messages, you can also create fake Instagram stories. While some users report using this app, it&#8217;s not recommended for serious use.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Cloned_profile_pictures\"><\/span>Cloned profile pictures<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve ever seen an Instagram profile picture that looks exactly like yours, you may have been the victim of a social media scam. These fake accounts are common across different social media platforms, and even within the same network. They can trick you into thinking that you&#8217;ve won something, only to have it turn out that you were duped. These scammers typically exploit the messaging system on the platforms, which makes it easy to include malicious links and scam conversations.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, there are ways to report a cloned account on Instagram. The first step is to take a screenshot of the fake account. If you are unable to locate it, ask a friend to do so. If you are unsure of the account&#8217;s identity, you can also request a new grid post. This will alert Instagram that the account is a fake and will be taken down.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Phishing_emails\"><\/span>Phishing emails<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In a recent update to its app, Instagram has made it easier for users to identify phishing scams. Users can now check if an email is a real Instagram one by going to the app&#8217;s security settings. From here, users can see a list of all emails sent by the social media site within the past 14 days. The new feature is currently rolling out, so be sure to check it out. If you&#8217;ve recently received an email containing a phishing link, be careful.<\/p>\n<p>In the case of an Instagram phishing scam, the email claims that you have been flagged for suspicious activity and encourages you to click a link to verify your account. These emails will contain links that take you to a page that requests your username and password. Using the links in these emails is a huge security risk. Besides stealing your personal information, clicking on these links can lead to identity theft. So it&#8217;s essential to be aware of Instagram&#8217;s policies on phishing emails.<\/p>\n<p> <iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/feQoSecp3zc\" height=\"296\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" width=\"530\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"margin:0px auto; display: block;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can You Be Scammed on Instagram? Scammers use the login credentials of ordinary Instagram users to hack into your account. By changing your password and posing as the original user, they can wreak financial havoc on your account. Besides scamming other Instagram users, cybercriminals are sending fake links to their direct messages. These fraudulent links [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v21.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Can You Be Scammed on Instagram? - Zeru<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can You Be Scammed on Instagram?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Can You Be Scammed on Instagram? Scammers use the login credentials of ordinary Instagram users to hack into your account. By changing your password and posing as the original user, they can wreak financial havoc on your account. Besides scamming other Instagram users, cybercriminals are sending fake links to their direct messages. These fraudulent links [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zeru\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-18T06:10:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Can-You-Be-Scammed-on-Instagram_20785.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"494\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lizzie Yates\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lizzie Yates\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram\",\"name\":\"Can You Be Scammed on Instagram? - Zeru\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-18T06:10:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-18T06:10:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/61005d9ec00b94bc50fbaf11b78aa55e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Can You Be Scammed on Instagram?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Zeru\",\"description\":\"Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/61005d9ec00b94bc50fbaf11b78aa55e\",\"name\":\"Lizzie Yates\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/19-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/19-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Lizzie Yates\"},\"description\":\"A content marketing strategist with the Zeru team for a little over 5 years, Lizzie Yates specializes in everything digital media with a particular focus on social media and technology. Her passion? To follow how the social media sites like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok are maturing over time, and what businesses can do to keep up. She shares her insights on our blog in a true outpouring of knowledge and expertise. Her knowledge about technology and social media is vast, and she is always willing to share her insights with businesses to help them stay up-to-date with the latest trends.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/author\/writer\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can You Be Scammed on Instagram? - Zeru","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can You Be Scammed on Instagram?","og_description":"Can You Be Scammed on Instagram? Scammers use the login credentials of ordinary Instagram users to hack into your account. By changing your password and posing as the original user, they can wreak financial havoc on your account. Besides scamming other Instagram users, cybercriminals are sending fake links to their direct messages. These fraudulent links [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram","og_site_name":"Zeru","article_published_time":"2022-07-18T06:10:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":494,"url":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Can-You-Be-Scammed-on-Instagram_20785.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Lizzie Yates","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lizzie Yates","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram","url":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram","name":"Can You Be Scammed on Instagram? - Zeru","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-07-18T06:10:57+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-18T06:10:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/61005d9ec00b94bc50fbaf11b78aa55e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/can-you-be-scammed-on-instagram#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Can You Be Scammed on Instagram?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/","name":"Zeru","description":"Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/61005d9ec00b94bc50fbaf11b78aa55e","name":"Lizzie Yates","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/19-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/19-150x150.jpg","caption":"Lizzie Yates"},"description":"A content marketing strategist with the Zeru team for a little over 5 years, Lizzie Yates specializes in everything digital media with a particular focus on social media and technology. Her passion? To follow how the social media sites like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok are maturing over time, and what businesses can do to keep up. She shares her insights on our blog in a true outpouring of knowledge and expertise. Her knowledge about technology and social media is vast, and she is always willing to share her insights with businesses to help them stay up-to-date with the latest trends.","url":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/author\/writer"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20788,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20785\/revisions\/20788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}