Instagram accounts hijacked with fake copyright infringement notifications

[harlan4096]

Have you reached a few thousand followers on Instagram? More? Congratulations, you are insta-famous. Among other things, though, being an Instagram influencer means that it’s quite possible that account thieves are after you. A new phishing scheme targeting popular accounts on Instagram is gaining momentum. Here is how it works.

You’ve got copyright violation notification

“Your account will be permanently deleted for copyright infringement,” claims an e-mail notification that looks very official. It has the usual Instagram header and logo, and the e-mail address in the From field is extremely close to a legitimate one: In most cases it’s either mail@theinstagram.team or info@theinstagram.team.

The e-mail claims that you have just 24 hours (in some versions it’s 48 hours) to appeal and provides a “Review complaint” button. If you click it, you end up on a convincing phishing page, where fraudsters put an image saying they care very much about copyright protection and offer you a link to “Appeal.” To make the scam look even more legitimate, they offer a long list of language choices, although it doesn’t work — whatever you click, the phishing page always remains in English.   

Continue Reading