EP 158| Instagram Hacking | Fix this NOW instagram

The Irish Photography Podcast - A podcast by theirishphotographypodcast

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Intro insta is free  It's a great platform for showcasing images and now also video  Pros: Superb way of discovering new creatives  Great way of meeting fellow photographers  Powerful tool to get new business, sales of images and building a brand    Cons: has moved to compete with tikok thru videos Copying pasting videos from TikTok platform Algorithm  seems to be changing faster than the weather    Now to the scary part  Subject to hacking of accounts  Identity theft IP Theft  How : hackers seem to take control of users accounts by sending a message to all of their followers and here are some of the ways  Need help to get account back  They have made money on crypto and you can too  Been accepted as an ambassador or similar    This message can go to all your followers and they also post stories and actual posts about the same    If you also view a story they will then message you also as you are flagged as active    Seems to be a real person sending the messages and not a bot Have been having conversions with followers  Have also told users who setup a new account and contacted to to try and get your account back .. hahaha etc  They fool followers into thinking that it’s the real person who needs help  They have access to all your previous conversations on the Platform so be careful what messages you send on insta as it is all there    Asks them to either click a link or send a screenshot of some sort    This is believed to be used as a way to get around two step authentication ( how I don’t quite know )   Once they have access to your account they then start sharing actually images you have posted , even been known to post personal / family images to increase chance of audience thinking it’s actually the real person and these images again contain that they made money on crypto    You audience are now the target and they want to catch them out and start the web of expansion of this hack    Insta can be linked to your commercial business , website or store so this has the potential to also be compromised    They have been known to send you a WhatsApp message demanding money to give your account back ( some have paid as it’s their business )   Years to build up a following now gone as you can effectively say goodbye to your insta account    Why? Insta are impossible to contact  You deal with AI not a real person  Even with two factor auth in place it’s makes no difference  It’s also been known to be that if you don’t have a proper photo of yourself as a profile then there is less chance but there is little chance in the first place  Fill in online questionnaire and insta come  back with a reply that there is nothing unusual on this  account    Cannot report it as a hacked account  Your Facebook is still active even tho both platforms are owned by meta .. why ? Why hasn’t insta recognized that this issue is so widespread  People will stop using the platform  You can make a new account and tell purple you are hacked but with no followers who is going to see it ?   What can you do ? Pay attention , they feed on people clicking without thinking ? Don’t click on links that your gut tells you could be sus Enable two factor authentication  If you want to keep your following then create your own mailing list where you have control  Find another platform to use  Or don’t and continue to use Instagram for what it is intended to be ! A free social platform    But also be aware that these scammers are also targeting youtube in the form of replies from creators ( fake profiles with a link )