Be very careful with the messages that can be sent to you through Instagram. Especially if they tell you that you have violated copyrights and ask you to enter a web address to leave them feedback and clarify the issue. They are false complaints and the true purpose is none other than to deceive the user to steal access to the account.
Direct messages and copyright
Instagram, like many other internet platforms and services, has a series of rules that serve to regulate and protect the use made of the service and the content published there.
If you are a normal user, you will be able to share any type of content with total peace of mind as long as you do not violate the rules of use and copyright. In the case of being a professional, those rules that apply to copyrighted content will protect you and prevent others from taking advantage of your work.
Well, this which logically is a great advantage for everyone can also be used to deceive other users and steal their account . How? Well, through phishing that now seems to start to come with a little more assiduity through Instagram messages.
That’s what has happened to Andy Day. Through Instagram messages, he received one from The North Face Chile account in which they indicated that they had detected a copyright infringement in his account. A notification that would not generate much alarm if it were not because in case of doing nothing the account would be closed in 24 hours.
Of course, to calm the user, they indicate that if you think it is an error, they can leave you feedback through a link that is included in the messages themselves and that once you click or tap on it to open it, it takes you to a website that at first it would go completely as an official page.
The problem is that it is not. It is a completely false page , but where you are asked to log in with your Instagram username and password because the objective is none other than to steal your access. Even if you do not trust, because stealing your Instagram profile is the least important thing, what really interests you is your email and therefore after asking for a user account and password they request that the email also be entered.
That’s where the real risk is, because many users today continue to use the same password for both their email and a multitude of accounts on social platforms. And worst of all, no double verification factor activated despite being something possible on the vast majority of platforms and services.
Protect your Instagram account like any other
This Andy Day story should serve to alert any user that there is no platform, social network or service that is one hundred percent free from all this type of trickery seeking to access the profiles and accounts of other users.
Instagram was not going to be less, on the contrary, the popularity of the platform makes it, along with messages via email, one of the great candidates when it comes to capturing somewhat more naive users who easily fall for their tricks.
Therefore, to avoid possible future headaches, protect your account well by using all the advice that is always given to be effective and necessary: use strong passwords , do not repeat them in various services and always activate double factor verification because you add an additional layer of security in the event that someone knows your password.
