How to detect and avoid scammers on Instagram
- Aya Hoja
- Oct 8, 2021
- 4 min read
Getting scammed in this day and age is nothing new. However, many people are still getting scammed because they do not know how easy it is to create an Instagram account and pretend to be someone they are not.
This may come in the form of private messages from companies that claim they want YOU to be their brand ambassador, or they claim to be a public figure of the investment company and help YOU make more money on the internet.
I want to address this phenomenon and help my people identify when they’re approached by a scammer and how to do their research before buying into the scammers' message.
Below is an Instagram account that approached my mom on Instagram and messaged her directly, clamming to be the public figure. My mom has been following this public figure for quite some time on YouTube, so she thought he was genuine. They had a back and forth in the messenger, and the scammer was telling her that she did not need a lot of capital to invest, just a couple of thousand dollars. The scammer included a link to the platform where she could “invest” the money and watch it “grow” within 24 to 48 hours.
Something about this conversation felt fishy, so my mom reached out to me to investigate.
Off the bat, I could tell this was a fake account by the number “0” that was used instead of the letter “o” in his username and the "_" as the handle…it gave me major red flags, but I was hopeful. I don't like to jump to conclusions that fast.
Then I went into his account to see what his profile is all about. This account only had 10 posts. The first post was created on September 16th, and so were the other 9 posts. Minimum to zero captions and minimum to no engagement in the comments. In addition, minimum to no likes in posts.
Few things to note:
Scammers can buy followers online for as cheap as $10 per 1000 fake followers.
Scammers can buy likes and comments, too, so it's crucial to see what the comments section looks like. If it’s fire emojis and “I like this post”, it’s a guaranteed fake account.
Real-life people (not robots or fakes) will comment and say something genuine in the public figure who has over 1000 genuine followers in their account. Of course, that’s just a fact, but you can do your research.
NOW for the win…
Search for the actual public figure person.
Side note: I don’t want to burst your bubble and tell you that your public figure would never talk to you, but realistically speaking, if they have over 15k followers, why would they go to you and HELP you when they can create an online course or a paid subscription program and communicate to you LIVE through there? Just food for thought and something to think about. I had to break this news to my mom too. She did not like it. So, I'm sorry in advance for sounding harsh. Again, the best way to identify if this public figure is reaching out to you genuinely is by getting them on LIVE camera. If they can't go LIVE, then something there is super fishy.
When I searched for Tim Bohen, I was able to identify over five fake accounts that all used his profile photo.
The best way to identify the public figure is through the blue checkmark. That’s why they exist on social media platforms in the first place, but not everyone knows about them.
When you look at the actual public figure, you can tell he uses hashtags, writes engaging captions, and his comments section is blown up by each post.
Another way to tell is by seeing their stories. Did they post anything in the last 24 hours? If they’re a popular public figure, the likely chance of them sharing is high. Also, check out their highlights. These are stories that the user loved and saved in the past, so that a new person, like yourself, can check it out and learn more about them before you go and begin scrolling through their feed to decide if you want to follow them.
Another way to check is by clicking on their links in bio. The fake account has a phony working website too. The actual public figure account has a link tree to multiple channels/sites that he promotes.
This strategy is not the best as you can get sucked into the black hole and won’t know if this website is legit, as it may look legit on the surface.
I hope this helps.
Let me know if you know of other strategies that can be used to quickly identify a fake account on Instagram.
P.S – take a look at my weekly insights where I talk about the best course of action to take on social media shutdown, impressions, and real-life scammers.
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