How can I stop getting scammed on Instagram? How do I stop being scammed on social media?
See, there are over 3 billion social media users worldwide currently, and more than 500 million daily active users access the Instagram app globally. This huge social media usage makes it a very attractive target for scammers and cybercriminals.
Fraudsters are using a variety of strategies to steal money from unsuspecting social media users.
A study by essay service suggests that close to 78% of US organizations experienced social media phishing attacks in 2019 and 1 in 10 adults will fall a victim to a scam every year. In fact, in January 2021, Instagram scam reports increased by 50%. And the number is expected to increase even faster as our digital lives continue to grow.
With online scams getting out of control, how do you avoid being scammed on social media particularly on Instagram?
It’s simple, social media users need to know the tactics scammers are using and learn how to avoid them.
In this article, you’re going to discover several social media and Instagram scamming tactics and how to avoid them.
Selling Instagram followers and likes
Some scammers and fraudsters ask you to pay some small fee in exchange for Instagram followers and likes. The tricky part about this social media scam is that when paying a nominal fee, you provide your confidential financial data that fraudsters steal and use to steal your money.
See, how Instagram works is simple.
Individuals known as influencers with a large Instagram following partner with companies or brands to promote the products of these companies either by recommending them to their followers or by sharing them on their profile.
According to Johansen Ludwick, a professional Instagram influencer and essay writer, the more quality followers an influencer has the higher the chances of getting more products to promote from potential advertisers and the better the chances of making more money.
Since influencers require real Instagram growth through organic means, cybercriminals get the opportunity to masquerade as companies selling followers and likes at a cheap fee. They create accounts that appear real but are fake and automated purposely to defraud unsuspecting users.
If you want to stay safe on social media and protect yourself from scams, it's crucial to read this informative article on the tactics scammers use and how to avoid them.
Steer clear from people selling followers and likes on social media
Who doesn’t want to accumulate social media followers and likes?Every influencer aspires to grow a huge following and it can be tempting to buy followers and likes.
However, brands have become wiser these days. They can detect if there is a rapid growth in the engagement rate than the followers you have. In fact, before partnering with an influencer, brands do a background check about the influencer’s account followers and likes to ensure they have genuine followers who they can target.
Besides, brands can have as many followers as they want but if they aren’t genuine users, they won’t have any impact on their sales.
To avoid falling for this trap (whether you’re an influencer, an individual user, or a brand) you should invest your time, money, and resources into accumulating authentic followers.
Note that Instagram prohibits buying followers and likes so you risk getting banned on the platform.
Phishing scams
Phishing comes in many forms but the intent is to trick you into doing a certain action that will make you expose your login details and other personal data.
On Instagram, phishing can occur via email. Studies suggest that 96% of phishing attacks happen through email. Phishing can also be done via a direct message, which is called smishing.
In this case, you receive an email or enticing email that prompts you to enter your username and password to execute a certain task.
The tricky part is that the login page isn’t a genuine one- although you may not realize that.
The crooks may send you an urgent email with a link threatening you that your account has been compromised and you need to change your password.
Once you click the link, you’re then directed to a login page where you are asked to enter your login credentials, the scammers then use the information to get into your Instagram account. They then change your password so you can’t access your account again.
The worst part is that when these crooks take over your Instagram account, they start coning your family, friends, or your followers. If they gain access to your credit card or bank card information, they can steal your money.
Some crooks will even blackmail you to send them money so that they can give you back your account.
How to avoid this phishing scam is easy. You need to be cautious of any communication that claims to be from Instagram.
First, if you get an email, verify that the email address is genuine(and is from Instagram).
You also need to activate two-factor authentification so that any time someone tries to access your account, they are asked to enter a code that will be sent to your phone or email. Another way to avoid Instagram phishing scams is to avoid clicking on any suspicious links. Use common sense every time you get a link via email.
Fake investment opportunities
Fake investment opportunities have become so popular in today’s world as everyone is looking to make more money online.
Instagram being the fastest-growing social media platform is a hot target for scammers. In June 2020 alone, Action Fraud reported 164 cases of people falling victim to this type of scam on Instagram.
In this type of scam, someone sends you a direct message promising you to invest in a fishy ‘get rich quick’ or ‘cash flipping’ investment with minimal investment. These fraudsters advertise their service in a tempting way that you can’t resist.
They will tell you that with minimal investment, they can grow your money twice or even ten times. They will even show you proof from other individuals whom they have helped to grow their money fast. They use high-class cars and expensive designer clothes to convince you to invest their money.
Don’t be deceived.
Once you make the minimal investment, they disappear.
More than $3 million was reported stolen between 2018 and 2019 using this fake investment scam.
How to avoid this type of fraudulent activity is also possible because how on earth can a stranger help you grow your money?
It’s simple, if you get this request from a stranger, just ignore it. Unless you know the financial company or individual, just don’t respond to any requests of these kinds.
Giveaway scams
Be careful. There are tons of tons of legitimate giveaways on Instagram. However, among these genuine giveaways, there are fake ones promising you non-existence prizes.These fraudulent giveaways are purposely meant to collect personal details or entice you to follow their account so you can win prizes that don’t exist.
This is how this type of Instagram scam happens.
An imposter brand mimics popular brand names you probably know and request you to enter contests through liking, sharing, or commenting on a post they make so you can win a certain prize. They also ask you to provide your email address and other private credentials so you can win the prize.
Don’t be fooled.
The personal information you provide will be used to defraud you and not to send you any prize.
Sometimes these Instagram fraudsters will come in the name of popular influencers you may know and claim to promote a giveaway to you.
Stay safe by scrutinizing the account promoting the giveaway carefully. Check to see whether it has a genuine following. Look at the account activities. Do you see it posting regularly, are there any past winners? Is the account profile complete?
Before participating in any contest, check for the legitimacy of the influencer or brand account.
Non-existent job opportunities
People are jobless out there.
The global unemployment rate is reported to be at 6.47%.
And Instagram scammers are aware of this.
With this type of scam, individuals posing as a popular company will ask you to provide your personal information such as your home address, phone number, passport number, scans of driving licenses, and other data before they can offer you a job. They’ll make the job as lucrative as possible so that you cannot resist the offer but it’s a non-existence job.
Once you give out your personal information, the fraudsters will use it to commit identity theft. For instance, they can use the information to apply for loans in your name.
Avoid accepting any job offers on Instagram from people you don’t know.
Fake brand accounts scams
81% of Instagram users visit the platform to research products or services. This explains why Instagram shopping is growing popular each day. But scammers are awake. They come in the form of genuine brands or sellers and hawk products but in the real sense, they aren’t genuine products.
They just want to collect your personal details including your payment information so they can use it to steal from your bank.
This type of scamming is rampant in the fashion industry where fake brands hawk bags, expensive clothes, and shoes. They use knock-off accounts that mimic big brands like Nike, Louis Vuitton, and many others.
These fraudsters promise exclusive discounts and freebies. They start by buying followers and likes to make their profile look authentic so that when they start selling their fake goods, no one can doubt them.
A social media marketing report by BrillAssignment has shown that over 50k accounts are promoting and selling fake products every day on Instagram.
Before you shop on social media, ensure you scrutinize the account. Instagram has been trying to weed out these fake brand accounts by verifying the genuine ones.
You can check the URL link of an account for strange misspellings before you engage in any business with them.
As a rule, always ensure you’re transacting with a professional brand.
Worthless social media marketing courses
Influencers and bloggers know that to be successful in the online world, they must be pros in social media marketing. This is where scammers get the opportunity to lure them into taking master classes and workshops that aren’t worthy.
A successful influencer of experts offers a course at an affordable fee online. Once they collect the fee, they vanish into the thin air leaving you frustrated and depressed.
See, there are tons of genuine social media courses and classes on social media that are offered by experts and successful influencers. However, there are also rip-off courses run by scammers.
Thankfully, there are many ways to avoid falling for these scammers.
Before you join any online course or class, ask for feedback from people who have taken the course.
Remember that to be successful on Instagram marketing, you have to put in the work, time, and effort. If a course claims to make you an expert overnight, be careful, you might end up losing your hard-earned money.
How to stay safe from Instagram scams
Social media scams are growing at an overwhelming rate.
Phishing, identify theft, account takeovers, and fraudulent marketing are the most reported kinds of social media scams reported every day. As the risks of getting scammed continue to increase day by day, every social media user needs to know how to spot any scam activity to avoid falling for their traps.
But recognizing these scams is one thing. You also need to know how to keep your Instagram account and activities safe from these scammers.
Here is how to stay safe from social media and Instagram scams:
Avoid clicking on suspicious links
Instagram doesn’t ask users to click on a link to manage or change anything in their accounts. If you get an email claiming to come from Instagram, check its legitimacy before you take any action it asks you to.
You can search on the ‘Emails from Instagram tabs in your emails to see whether the email is from Instagram as below:
That’s where you can locate any email sent to you by Instagram. If the email you’ve received doesn’t appear anywhere in this tab, ignore it.
Set your account to private
By default, Instagram sets users' accounts to public to allow anyone including friends to view posts and other things. Go to your Instagram Privacy Settings and set your account to private so that only approved followers can see your posts and other activities.
Use hard-to-guess passwords
As a rule, you should never use the same password across all your online accounts. You should also use strong passwords that aren’t easy to guess. Ensure to use a password manager to store your passwords.
Active two-factor authentication
The two-factor authentification method is also another effective method to protect your online accounts from fraudsters and cybercriminals.
When you enable this feature, someone can’t use your username to access your account unless they enter a private or authentification code that’s sent to the phone or email you provide during the activation process.
You can enable two-factor authentification through your Instagram Security Settings area.
Other ways to keep your Instagram safe from scammers include: avoid buying from brands or sellers with unverified or suspicious profiles, monitoring your login activity, keeping track of third-party apps, and ignoring unsolicited direct messages.
Conclusion: How to avoid social media and Instagram scams
Instagram scams can be avoided. Recognizing them isn’t also hard. How to avoid them is also not as complicated as you may think. Sometimes you just need to use common sense.
We hope this article has taught you how to avoid social media and Instagram scams.
Have you ever fallen for any of these Instagram scams or do you know of any victim of these scammers?
Please share the experience in the comment section.
