There’s a '3 of your pictures' scam that’s been circulating on Instagram recently and can result in serious privacy consequences for those who fall victim to it. However, as it is nothing more than the latest phishing attempt, knowing about it can go a long way to protecting users from getting caught by it. Here’s a quick breakdown of how the scam works to ensure Instagram users can avoid getting scammed themselves.
While emails and text messages are common ways for scams to take place, scammers are finding social media networks to be equally as useful to target unsuspecting victims. Furthermore, some scams tend to work better on some social media networks than others. For example, it is not a surprise that this particular picture-based scam is doing the rounds on one of the most popular photo-based social media networks.
It is not currently clear when the ‘3 of your pictures’ scam first surfaced, but reports of it have been increasing over the last few weeks. Furthermore, the scam appears to largely be the same regardless of who it targets and begins with a user receiving a direct message on Instagram. For reference, these DMs can also come from other Instagram users that are known to the victim, making knowing it's a scam all the more harder to realize in time. Some Instagram users, including @gj_artstudios and @jacquelines.paper.room, both claim to have received the phishing DMs and have provided screenshots of how the message looks so others can see the scam in action.
How The 3 of your pictures Instagram Scam Works
Each time, the scam appears to follow the same process. An Instagram user receives a direct message from someone stating that the person has spent a long time editing the victim's pictures. The message is then typically followed with another that include a link where the unsuspecting Instagram user can view, download, and presumably, share their new and improved photos.
As is often the case with link scams, the link itself is the main part of the scam. Instead of redirecting the user to the photos, the link goes to a fake version of the Instagram website, prompting the user to sign in to view the images. Once signed in to the fake Instagram site, the user has effectively handed over their Instagram credentials to the scammers. At which point, they can take control of the account. This is where the Instagram friends issue comes in. Once one Instagram account has been compromised, the scammers can use the login details to send a DM to all of the account's listed Instagram friends. As the DMs are coming from a known person, the likelihood of the friends clicking the link to view the pictures becomes all the more likely.
The easiest way to avoid this scam is just to avoid any direct message that claims to have improved your pictures and provides a link for the user to view the images. This includes even when the DM comes from a known Instagram contact. Of course, in cases where it is someone the user knows well, they can always take the extra precaution of contacting the friend outside of Instagram to confirm the DM was authentic.
Source: gj_artstudios/Instagram, @jacquelines.paper.room/Instagram