The number of scam cases on Instagram has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, which could badly damage the reputation of the social networks and influencers

Our routine has totally changed during the pandemic situation like our working routine, the online classes routine, and many more, because this pandemic situation we are spending more time on social media platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. What we have to be very careful is many of us don’t even know the correct usage of these platforms. many criminals have also found this a place for taking their benefits by fraud. The number of fraud and scam cases on Instagram has increased a lot during the pandemic situation which could adversely affect the prestige of such a giant platform. Now during the lockdown situation, we mostly do shopping, giving the order for food delivery, or any other entertainment activities, we do it online.

We also think that this social media platform is a source of entertainment for us, therefore we take time from our work to spend it on social media. An alarming report has been issued by the UK police national reporting center for fraud and cybercrime found that around 50 percent of scam has increased on Instagram during the pandemic. Many bad actors send you a fake link for getting your private information such as pin code or your account information, or they may hack your account through the advertisement of fake ads by giving a link below. Recently, a man from the UK has lost £17,000 by clicking on the fake investment ad on Instagram. This is just one number, there are countless cases in which people lose their money or important information via scam.

The person who lost £17,000 were following a person who was running a scam-based investment scheme on Instagram. However, it is still not known that how much money that criminal has taken fraudulently from other people too. Another case found that happened to an accountant of 24 years old named Jonathon Reuben, he was interested in putting his investment on some good schemes, unfortunately, he fell prey to these fraud schemes running on Instagram where he put his investment to get the good return, he got the return for the first month which put his more interest on this fraudulent scheme. Ultimately, he lost all his money.

According to the cybersecurity specialist, people want a lifestyle they see on the social media platforms through the influencers, they want to get the money by hook or by crook therefore, these criminals show them sweet dreams and take their money fraudulently. Many people during these hard times want a job, they need money at any cost to fulfil their dreams. The management of Instagram should also review its policies so that only authentic people can put their ads on Instagram, which can help to reduce these cases up to some extent.


Illustration: Freepik

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