Instagram 'Copyright Infringement' Scam Duping Celebrities - All You Need To Know

Posing as Instagram help center executives, fraudsters have been getting private details of users. Actor Amisha Patel was the latest to lose access to her account.

Logo of the social network Instagram on a smartphone

A new type of scam has been making rounds on Instagram, targeting celebrities. In the Instagram Copyright infringement scam, users get a Direct Message (DM) from fraudsters who pose as Instagram help center executives. The scammer then informs the user that a copyright violation has been detected and proceeds further for private information. So far, celebrities like Asha Bhosle, Urmila Matondkar and Amisha Patel have fallen for this Instagram Copyright infringement scam. How does the Instagram copyright infringement scam work? As part of the scam, users receive a message on their Instagram accounts where the sender, usually a verified ID titled ‘Help Center’, claims he/she is associated with the ‘Instagram/Copyright infringement Center’. “Hello Instagram user, we have received many complaints about your account for a long time. We wanted to inform you about this. Before you delete your account, some of the posts you posted are against our community guidelines. If you think the copyright infringement statement is false, you must provide feedback. Otherwise, your account will be permanently deleted from the platform within 72 hours,” the message from the scammer reads. A “Copyright Appeal Form” is attached in the form of a link, which is actually a phishing link that asks users to fill in details like their Instagram password, date of birth, etc. What is a phishing link? Created by fraudsters, the phishing links will ask the users to enter their personal data. The details will be later used by the scammers to take control of the user’s account. After which they can log into the user’s account, change the password, and take control of it. In most of the cases, the scammers used verified accounts for duping others. In the case of this fraud, the fraudsters even ensure the page has an ‘HTTPS’ in the address bar that is usually a sign that it is a secure site. READ | WhatsApp Privacy Policy Update - Accept It Or Account Will Be 'Deleted What do the hackers gain by getting access to these accounts? Mostly, the hackers after gaining access to the social media accounts, sell the details on the darknet, some use the details for duping others financially and can use the credentials for personal gains. The darknet an unindexed version of the Internet that can only be accessed using the TOR software, there are several sites selling bundles of personal debit card details and passwords, which are then purchased by other hackers to withdraw money. Online scammers are more interested in getting access to social media accounts of celebrities and they valued more in the deep net market.