How to Stop Instagram Scam Accounts from Stealing Your Clients

As Instagram grows more popular, the activities of scam artists on the platform are bound to become more rampant. The most vulnerable accounts are the ones that represent successful businesses, as scammers can infiltrate and take control of these accounts through phishing. If they do, the clients of the businesses will be targeted, either for their money or their personal information. Either way, the businesses stand to temporarily lose out on their clients and potentially, a lot of money in the process. The Instagram accounts of your clients may come under threat as well, as the scammers may try to steal their personal information or spread malware to them as well.

However, the good thing is that even if business accounts on Instagram are hacked, there are ways of minimizing the damage. So, if you have a business account on Instagram, read on to know how you can put a stop to the activities of a fake Instagram account pretending to represent your business.

1. Report the fake account

The easiest thing to do would be to report the fake business account on Instagram as soon as you find out about it. Also, you should reach out to your clients using other social media platforms to inform them about what’s happened and ask them to report it as well. When multiple Instagram accounts report a fake account, Instagram typically takes little time to block the activities of the account.
Sure, some damage might already have been done. However, once Instagram blocks the account, you can be sure that there won’t be further attempts to steal your clients from that account. Remember, this doesn’t mean that any future Instagram account you create for your business will be safe, which brings us to the next point.

2. Set challenging and unique passwords

It’s a hassle to remember a ton of different passwords, and it’s this inconvenience that leads people into setting similar passwords across all their social media accounts. However, the convenience of having similar passwords comes at a cost. If you’re someone who uses the same passwords across all your personal and professional social media accounts, you’re at great risk of having multiple accounts hacked. That’s why it’s important to set unique and challenging passwords for all your accounts.

To do away with the inconvenience of the process, you could keep a note of all the passwords in a notebook. We recommend not storing them on your phone as they may be compromised if your phone is hacked. If you have to store them digitally, we recommend using secure password manager software.

3. Make sure that your debit and credit cards are blocked

If Instagram scammers extract your debit or credit card information, you’ll be at risk of losing out on all your money. However, most scammers on the platform typically don’t drain funds at one go. Most of the time, they keep making smaller purchases. To keep track of any suspicious purchases or activities using your debit or credit card information, keep monitoring the financial statements provided by your bank.

Sure, keep an eye out for suspicious purchases that involve a lot of money. However, also be on the lookout for smaller transactions that look odd. As soon as you detect anything out of the ordinary on your financial statements, reach out to your bank and request them to block your debit and/or credit card.

4. Check your credit scores

Once scammers on Instagram get a hold of your personal information, they can use it for the creation of multiple bank accounts. In next to no time, the scammers’ activities may result you incurring a lot of debt. So, if you get even the slightest hint that scammers have infiltrated your account and stolen your personal information, check your credit scores as soon as possible.

For example, if you’re a resident of the USA, you should ideally check credit scores across all three major institutions – Equifax, Experion, and TransUnion. If you live somewhere else, you should seek out information on the platforms of your country’s institutions. You could also freeze your credit, which will prevent scammers from making further purchases in your name.

5. Rely on ID theft checker software

ID theft checker software allow users to monitor and track suspicious activities that scammers may engage in using personal information or bank-related information.

We recommend you to start using such software as soon as possible. You can use it to track ID thefts in real-time, which will make it possible for you to take action at short notice without facing too much damage.

6. Security software is a must across all your devices

Irrespective of the number of devices you use to access your business account on Instagram, all of them should have security software. We recommend installing software that provides paid services, as they would include multiple security features.

Also, make sure that auto-updates are turned on for the security software across all your devices. Scammers are continuously finding innovative ways to infiltrate accounts through new types of attacks. The latest updates will keep your devices secure from the newest forms of cybercriminal attacks.

7. Keep a backup of all your critical data

You should keep a backup of all critical data including personal information and bank account details on an external hard drive or the cloud. You must ensure that the backed up data isn’t in any way connected to the network you use at home or at office.

Don’t forget to keep a backup of all the data on your phone too. This will allow you to fall back on the backed-up data if the data connected to your home or office network is breached by scammers.

8. Enable multi-factor authentication

Instagram, along with most other prominent social media apps and websites provide multi-factor authentication facilities. Multi-factor authentication is a great way for these apps and websites to verify your identity. It works like this – after you enter your login credentials, a text message or an email will be sent to you. The message or email will either contain a one-time password or a link that will verify that it’s indeed you who’s logging into your account.

Biometric authentication is also a great multi-factor authentication feature that relies on facial, fingerprint, or retinal scans to determine the identity of the individual attempting to log in. By default, this Instagram verification feature is turned off. So, make sure you turn it on before proceeding with any more activities on Instagram.

How your account may be controlled by scammers

Scammers typically use one of two methods to control Instagram accounts – Owning or Ninja mode.

Owning mode involves the scammers completely owning an Instagram account. If a scammer uses this method to control your Insta account, there’s a high chance that critical information will be either deleted or altered. The altered or deleted details can make it incredibly difficult for you to recover your account. In such a scenario, the scammer can sell followers for a small fortune. It can also result in your followers’ accounts being hacked by the scammer. Typically, it’s not very hard for scammers to impersonate an individual or a business once they have hacked into an account. So, it makes it quite easy for them to target the account’s followers for extracting more information from them.

Ninja mode doesn’t involve stealing accounts or changing passwords. A scammer using this method to target Instagram accounts typically track the activities of the accounts on a daily basis, doing so while being completely undetected. After observing the Instagram account activity for a long time, the scammer is able to impersonate the individual or business and target the account’s followers. Instagram allows users to delete conversations and unsend messages. While these features are quite helpful when used the right way, they also provide an advantage to hackers and scammers whose only purpose is to extract users’ personal information.

Tips to prevent phishing on Instagram

Prevention is better than cure, and the best way to prevent phishing on Instagram is to put the following tips into practice:

• If an app asks for permission to access your Instagram profile, don’t allow it permission unless the app has been developed by a reputed and trusted developer. Ideally, you should only give permission to apps that have been marked either as Top Developer or Editor’s Choice. Also, it’s important that you read all permissions carefully. Many apps have poorly-developed security features, and scammers may try and make their way into your Instagram account through these apps.
• Don’t click on links sent from unknown accounts. These links may be sent to you along with a tempting offer such as a giveaway or exclusive discounts or more Instagram followers. Before you click on any of these links, you must ensure that they’ve come from verified sources. Many fraudulent pages send such offers to Instagram users along with the clickable links. If you click on these links, you might end up sharing your personal information with scammers and fraudsters.

So, proceed with caution on Instagram. While the platform promises a lot of profits, there are pitfalls along the way that you must avoid. If you want to grow your Instagram channel rapidly without compromising on security, choose mrinsta.com to buy Instagram followers.