BEWARE; YOUR INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT CAN BE HIJACKED WITH FAKE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT CLAIM.

If you have by chance gotten some activity on your account in recent times or seen a pleasant spike in your account followers, then you are probably a target for the latest Instagram account hack by fraudsters.

Here's how they operate:

You get the following message on whatsapp claiming to be from Meta Support: This was what I actually got from them.

Instagram | Meta Support
Your account will be closed!
Hello @codex_ng
Your account has been reported for copyright infringement.
Copyright rules are important to us. That's why we have to process your account.
Your account will be permanently deleted from our servers after 48 hours due to copyright reasons.
If you think the copyright infringement and complaint is wrong, you can appeal by contacting us at the link below and filling out the form.
Appeal Form:
https://metasupportappeal.ml/form/
Thanks,
From,
META
© Instagram, Facebook Inc1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CS 94025


In my case, I got the above message and another WhatsApp chat from someone claiming to be a lawyer from the company 'claiming infringement.' When I asked what company it was he was representing he sounded vague and that was my first clue that it was a scam.

Anyway, the appeal link from the official looking message purporting to be from Meta Support opens a well designed domain with a suspicious url that ends with '.ml' and not '.com' (https://metasupportappeal.ml/form/).

The above url inconsistency might probably not be noticed by people who aren't very techy but the website it opens up to will then request for your IG name, IG password, Email address, Email address password and phone number ( I have attached a screenshot of the form they sent me in this article).

If this doesn't raise a red flag for you Instantly, it should. No one should request for your email address and password of that same email address, especially not on a url that is not .com but .ml

Anyway, after delivering some choice words to the thief/thieves and their family members, he/they scurried into the darkness in shame; maybe to find another victim.

I saw the following tips on how to protect your account from fraudsters, so lemme quickly share.

How to protect your Instagram account

As soon as your data goes to the scammers, they can take over your Instagram profile and modify the information you need to recover it. From there, they can start demanding ransom to give the account back to you, or start spreading spam and all kinds of malicious content using your hijacked account — not to mention what might happen if you give away your e-mail password to the scammers too.

1. Don’t click on suspicious links.
Always check the address bar for the URL of the Web page. If instead of Instagram.com it says something like 1stogram.com or instagram.security-settings.com, get out of there quick, and don’t even think about entering any personal data.

2. Use the official Instagram app from the official store — such as Google Play for Android, or App Store for iOS.

3. Never enter account login credentials for authentication on third-party services and apps.

4. Enable two-factor authentication in both Instagram and your e-mail account.

My work is done here. Thank me later