Instagram scams

Beware of losing access to your Instagram account.

Bad actor are always scheming of ways to make money from their victims. The latest is not new but a variation of the scams they used in the past.

NEVER CLICK on a link your not sure where it came from. Scammers know that their pray is educated to their tricks. However, what if a family member or a friend messaged you from their account? What if they had the right profile picture and seems to come from the right account?

Yes, that’s how difficult it’s getting to spot these scams. Maybe its your cousin you talk to but once a year, messaging? Will you fall victim to this trick?

I do my upmost to educate my clients about these bad actors. I been doing this for over ten years now and seen a lot of people get fooled into giving out money to these people. Not much you can do after the money is gone. Banks don’t insure our money from scams.

I can spot a scam from these five things below.

1. Speech pattern. (Doesn’t sound natural).

2. They contact me first.

3. They either want help or want to sell me something.

4. I check out the profile date made. ( usually new without many pictures or followers, friends. or basic content).

5. Lastly, keep them talking/ texting/ messaging. (Ask them questions that only the true profile owner would know).

As long as you have them tied up with you they are not about to scam someone else. I love to miss lead them into thinking they got a big fish on the line.

Example: I kept one scammer running in circles for two days. No doubt this guy’s boss wasn’t happy he didn’t bring in any money those two days.

You might not have the time to keep a scammer running in circles like I did. However, anytime they believe your a target helps others. Join the educated crowd.

It really upsets me when I receive a call from someone that just got scammed. It’s usually the elderly they target first. The reason they target them is not because they are old. It’s because they didn’t grow up with computers and aren’t very savvy on how they work. You probably know someone who got scammed as well.

My parents are so afraid they will be scammed the unplug their computer after they use it. Only to be obvious that it only takes Mico seconds to be hacked. You might think that because you don’t bank online your money is save. The truth is your bank is online and your just not connected to it with your computer. It’s not any safer because you still write out paper checks. My bank allows me to take a picture of the check and upload it to my account. So in short don’t leave your check book laying around.

The world we live in today is digital. Nothing we do will change that. The benefits are too great for them to go backwards. Businesses are more productive and wast less paper. Yah! Save the rain forest! Seriously, all we need to do is be smarter than the scammers.

Just remember, if your friend wants you to send them gift cards he’s really not your friend. If someone wants to remote into your computer “while you login your bank ” that’s not a good thing. Don’t click, hover, open, or install anything your not 100% sure is legit.

Your one of the lucky ones. You take seriously the threat online. You read articles like mine and no doubt other to educate yourself. I praise you for that! Pass on what you learn and help others put these bad actors out of business.

Thank you, DaveTheNerdGuy