Hackers are trying to steal your Instagram accounts with fake copyright notices

I believe most of us use Instagram, either for personal or business purposes. Therefore, I want to warn you that there seems to be a new phishing scam going around on Instagram at the moment. By sending fake copyright notices, hackers are trying to get your account details and hack your account.

Andy Day of FStoppers received the message himself, so he shared what it looks like. He received one from an account named The North Face Chile. The message reads as follows:

Hi Instagram User!

Copyright infringement ! A copyright violation has been detected in a post on your account. If you think copyright infringement is wrong, you should provide feedback. Otherwise, your account will be closed within 24 hours. You can give feedback from the link below. Thank you for your understanding.

Copyright Form;

https://instagramhelpnotice.com/

When you click on the link in the message, it will lead to a page that asks for your account details.

Now, at the first glance, the message may seem legit. However, read it with a bit more attention, and you’ll see the signs of a scam. Official messages from Instagram usually don’t contain exclamation marks. They will also never contain fragments such as “Copyright infringement !” along with bad punctuation. There is some bad grammar as well, which also helps you figure out the scam. However, for those who don’t speak good English, this may not play a major role.

There’s one more thing that you’ll often find in scams like this: a sense of urgency. The message urges you to solve the problem as soon as possible, giving you only 24 hours before “closing your account.” This could make people panic and act more promptly – and without carefully thinking it through.

The message comes from a verified, but private account, with 151k followers, 0 following and no profile photo. It seems kinda fishy when you visit their profile. Andy points out that it could be that North Face Chile’s official account was hacked, or someone made a new account and bought all those followers.

Either way, let this be a reminder to never panic and never act too fast if you receive a message like this. Always think it through and do a bit of a research. And if your English is good enough or you’re a native speaker – just read carefully, the signs are often in grammar and punctuation.

If you received a message like this, let us know in the comments.

[via FStoppers]