No, your friend suddenly doesn’t feel the need to share his new passion for cryptocurrency with you on Instagram. He probably had his account hacked, like several other users to whom it happened in the last three weeks.
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Last Sunday, Marie Barrière received a message from a friend she knows well on Instagram. The latter claims to participate in a contest. She sends him a link and asks him to take – and send back – a screenshot of a text message she is about to send him. What Marie does, without asking too many questions, since it is a friend.
A few minutes later, she receives an email from Instagram telling her that someone is trying to log into her Instagram account from Toronto. But it’s already too late: the fraudster has already changed the email address associated with his account and the password.
The hacker then shares stories in which he promotes bitcoins.
“Guys, bitcoin mining is the coolest thing. I just made my second investment of $2000 and I recovered $20,000 in 3 hours!! it’s amazing thank you very much @malicia__fx I really appreciate what you have done, you should not miss this opportunity it is very legitimate and profitable God bless you always”, can we read in one of the stories.
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Screenshot | instagram
Screenshot | instagram
“I’m the first to say that you have to be careful and who can’t believe that people are being tricked on the internet,” says the young woman, still incredulous to have been tricked. Since Sunday, she has tried five times to regain possession of her account, without success.
Several victims
The scheme used by this fraudster is very clever, underlines Laurence Grondin-Robillard, doctoral student in communications at UQAM and communications coordinator at the Research Group on Daily Information and Surveillance (GRISQ).
Laurence Grondin-Robillard
The scammer uses the hacked account of someone you know to contact you. He then enters your username to try to connect and clicks on “forgot password”. Instagram therefore sends you a message – which you think is from your friend – to reset your password. The fraudster, who pretends to be your friend, then asks you to send him a screenshot of the message that contains the link to reset your password. He can therefore connect to your account and take possession of it.
This ploy seems particularly popular with hackers. On Reddit, several people have indicated that they have been trapped in the last few weeks, notes Laurence Grondin-Robillard. The victims appear to be mostly Canadian.
Fear of losing subscribers
Comedian Lucas Boucher is one of these victims, like Marie. On April 30, a friend of his asked him why he was promoting bitcoin on his Instagram stories. Surprised, he tries to connect to his account, without success.
“I was afraid of losing the subscribers that I worked hard to have,” he confides.
The hacker then contacted several of his relatives to brag about gains he had made using crypto. “I invested and earned my profit in 3 hours with the help of my mentor Fr I invested $500 and earned $11,500 with Bitcoin mentor called @helen_mason175,” it read. in one of stories.
Photo courtesy (Instagram screenshot)
Lucas was luckier than Marie: he was able to regain possession of his account. After being kicked out of his account by the hacker several times, he managed to change his password and his email, early one morning. And his adventure even inspired him with a humor number, which he published on … Instagram.
Instagram, again and again
This is far from the first frauds on Instagram. A few weeks ago, the 24 hours reported that people had their identities stolen on Instagram in order to promote fake OnlyFans accounts.
In the latest case of fraud, the social network connection procedure could be to blame, says Laurence Grondin Robillard.
Unlike Instagram, Facebook requires a user who wants to change their password to enter a valid email address or phone number. On Instagram, a person can simply enter their username in order to change their password. The expert believes that Instagram would benefit from asking for more information to have access to this function.
Instagram screenshot
“I think this method [d’arnaque] will grow if Instagram does not change its process for logging in and recovering accounts and changing passwords,” she said.
Instagram’s “younger” and “more reactive” audience could also explain why this platform is a place of choice for fraudsters, continues Laurence Grondin Robillard. In addition, instant chat, which promotes quick responses, could make life easier for hackers. Since we have less time to think about what we are doing, unlike an email, we tend to question ourselves less, she says.
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How do we prevent this from happening to us?
The best way to prevent such a situation from happening to you is to activate double authentication, but not with your phone number, insists the specialist. She considers that by adding an email address other than the one associated with the account, it is easier to ensure that a message is legitimate than by text message.
When you receive a message from one of your contacts telling you about a contest, see this interaction as a red flag, continues the social media expert. Also beware of links received in private message. And if one of your friends makes a dubious request, contact him by another means to make sure that he is the one who wrote to you.
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