Social
media is now the driving force that drives the world crazy in the ICT network.
The young, old and even the under aged are caught up in the web of social
media. This force is so powerful to the extent that it is now overshadowing
other electronic media. In order to escape risk of phasing out, these other
media outfits are now leveraging social media to keep up with the new trend. We
are in
a world where criminals follow the money and are looking for the latest and
advanced method to help increase their haul. All roads now lead to social media platforms. The rise in
popularity of social media platforms implies that scammers have taken note and
taken advantage, and various forms of scams are being seen on these platforms. People
voluntarily and unconsciously share enticing videos, stories, pictures, and
offers that actually include links to malicious and fraudulent site. This
attest to the fact that millions of people are using well-established social
media, and of course, where there is decaying animal there is certainly will be
maggot. Criminals will always go wherever there are people to be victimized.
In
2014, it was reported (2015 Internet Security Threat Report) that criminals hijacked the power
of “social proof”—the idea that we attribute more value to something if it’s
shared or approved by others. Criminals exploited this theory by hacking real
accounts on platforms like Snapchat so that when you saw an endorsement for a
scam product or link, you’d trust it because it seemed to come from someone you
actually knew and you manually share it, thereby helping the scammer to do his
job. According to the report, 70 percent of social media threats required users
to propagate them, as compared with only 2 percent in 2013. Scammers also use
the strategy of “Like” and “comment” to propagate their scams. They do so by
posting and want you to click on the “continue” or “verification” button or
link to access more enticing content, thereby increasing its popularity and
reach. The public also undervalued their data, freely giving away email
addresses and login credentials without checking if the website is a legitimate
one. While scammers certainly evolved their tactics and ventured onto new
platforms in 2014, a lot of their success continued to come from people’s
willingness to fall for predictable and easily avoided scams.
INSTAGRAM
Instagram,
one of the fast growing social media platforms is now gaining popularity among
the social media confraternity with more monthly active users than Twitter, and
legitimate brands use it as a marketing channel for their businesses. It’s
obvious that as any social networking platform becomes popular, scammers are
never far behind.
In
2014, scams on Instagram were those where criminals tried to monetize pre-populated
accounts and mimic offers employed by legitimate corporate users. They create
fake accounts, in disguise to be lottery winners who are sharing their winnings
with anyone who will become a follower. Some pretend to be well-known brands giving
away gift cards. Users are told to follow the fake accounts and add their
personal information, like email addresses, in the comments to receive
incentives. Some unsuspecting victims often think nothing of giving away their
details. Some users even go as far as sending $0.99 to the scammers in order to
cover the return postage for the so-called offer, which they never see in the
end. People don’t border about it because the amount is so small, but they’re
giving away more details, and scammers are getting an extra cash bonus, and
also using their details to exploit them. When the fake account has gotten
enough followers, the criminal change the name, picture, and bio-data, so when
people don’t receive the incentive, they can’t locate the account to mark it as
spam. The criminal then sell the fake account with all its followers to the
highest bidder, and afterward a new account springs up in disguise of the
original fake account, claiming the old account was hacked, and the process
starts all over again. Scams spread like wild fire in Instagram, in the sense
that once a user fall prey to the scam, the friends and followers of that user
who follows the stream will see the post and often fall victim of such scam. The
inability of Instagram to carryout verified check for legitimate accounts has
made such scams prevalent.
People
should be very careful when using any social media network, be wary of free
offers for gifts, cards, or invitations from attractive women to join adult
dating and webcam sites. If you are asked to fill out a survey or sign up for a
service using a credit card, you are most likely being scammed. As the old
adage goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. When you receive
message requesting for financial assistance from friends or family members via
social media or email, check very well before responding, if possible try
contacting the person on phone to ascertain its genuiness. It’s probably coming
from a scammer who might have hacked the account.
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