There'due south a '3 of your pictures' scam that's been circulating on Instagram recently and tin can result in serious privacy consequences for those who fall victim to it. However, as information technology is nix more than the latest phishing endeavour, knowing well-nigh it tin can go a long mode to protecting users from getting caught past it. Here's a quick breakdown of how the scam works to ensure Instagram users can avert getting scammed themselves.

While emails and text letters are common means for scams to take place, scammers are finding social media networks to be equally every bit useful to target unsuspecting victims. Furthermore, some scams tend to work better on some social media networks than others. For example, it is not a surprise that this particular motion-picture show-based scam is doing the rounds on i of the virtually popular photo-based social media networks.

It is not currently clear when the '3 of your pictures' scam first surfaced, but reports of information technology have been increasing over the final few weeks. Furthermore, the scam appears to largely be the aforementioned regardless of who it targets and begins with a user receiving a direct bulletin on Instagram. For reference, these DMs can also come from other Instagram users that are known to the victim, making knowing it'due south a scam all the more harder to realize in time. Some Instagram users, including @gj_artstudios and @jacquelines.paper.room, both merits to have received the phishing DMs and have provided screenshots of how the message looks so others tin come across the scam in action.

How The 3 of your pictures Instagram Scam Works

IG Scam

Each time, the scam appears to follow the same process. An Instagram user receives a directly message from someone stating that the person has spent a long time editing the victim's pictures. The message is so typically followed with another that include a link where the unsuspecting Instagram user can view, download, and presumably, share their new and improved photos.

As is often the instance with link scams, the link itself is the principal office of the scam. Instead of redirecting the user to the photos, the link goes to a fake version of the Instagram website, prompting the user to sign in to view the images. Once signed in to the false Instagram site, the user has finer handed over their Instagram credentials to the scammers. At which betoken, they can accept control of the account. This is where the Instagram friends issue comes in. Once one Instagram business relationship has been compromised, the scammers can use the login details to ship a DM to all of the account'due south listed Instagram friends. Equally the DMs are coming from a known person, the likelihood of the friends clicking the link to view the pictures becomes all the more probable.

The easiest way to avoid this scam is just to avoid whatsoever direct bulletin that claims to have improved your pictures and provides a link for the user to view the images. This includes even when the DM comes from a known Instagram contact. Of course, in cases where it is someone the user knows well, they tin can always take the extra precaution of contacting the friend outside of Instagram to confirm the DM was authentic.

More: Instagram Might Soon Crave Users to Verify Their Identity

Source: gj_artstudios/Instagram, @jacquelines.paper.room/Instagram