Fact-Check: Instagram copyright notice message is fake; beware of phishing scam [details]

We all love scrolling through pictures of celebrities on Instagram. We enjoy the era of uploading fancy reels, IGTV videos. But do you know this can cost you a lot if you are not vigilant?

Social media is a boon as well as a bane and has made it easy for strangers to earn your trust by impersonating people or brands. Be it a verified user or a non-verified user, and your page can be the next target of the scammer.

From the past few days, several celebrities and media accounts have received a direct message on Instagram informing that copyright infringement has been detected in their photos? Beware, it's a phishing scam. International Business Times, India brings you the truth behind it.

The Claim

International Business Times, India received a copyright infringement message from an account named 'Annama. One'

Here is what the message read:

Instagram | Copyright Infringement Center

Hello Instagram User,

We have received many complaints about your account for a long time.

We wanted to inform you about this. Before you delete your account, some of the posts you posted are against our community guidelines.

If you think the copyright infringement statement is false, you must provide feedback.

Otherwise, your account will be permanently deleted from the platform within 72 hours.

Copyright Appeal Form:

https://helper-media-centers.ml/

Don't forget to contact us after confirming your account. Make sure you fill in the information correctly.

Thank you for your understanding.

© Instagram. Facebook Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025

The Truth:

Beware of these phishing attempts by fake verified Instagram accounts. These scamsters could have got access to verified Instagram accounts by collecting information of celebrities and verified account holder who panicked and followed the spam links.

Despite them using FB & Insta logos and clearly mentioning Instagram Support in bios, Instagram is only allowing such handles to fester and put users at risk.

How Instagram support is clueless and inadequate to safeguard platform users (how they responded when we reported).

 Stop and think before you click the link

Clicking the button of 'Copyright Objection Form' redirects the user to a fake Instagram page. Moreover, the page's URL doesn't end in '.com' but in '.cf' or ml, which adds to the illusion that the domain is an Instagram one on the mobile web browser.

The page seeks to appear legitimate and official by using an SSL certificate, represented by 'HTTPS' in the address bar and green padlocks. If the users click through, they would then be asked to give their email id, date of birth, and Instagram password.

After obtaining all the private information of the users, the phishing page redirects them to the official Instagram login page for maintaining the illusion that the copyright objection form was authentic. If the Instagram users fall for this trick, the hackers can take control of their accounts undisturbed.

Celebs who have reported about these scams

A lot of celebrities have reported to Instagram about these scams. Let's take a look at who all got these messages.

He also got the same message that we got. Anand took to IG stories and tagged Instagram.

The account of the music label was hacked (BGBNG MUSIC)

Know more about copyright infringement

A new phishing scam is targeting most of the Instagram users by accusing them of Copyright Infringement and obtaining their credentials. It baits the users into giving away their login details using bogus copyright infringement alerts.

The attack begins with a phishing email distributed as a part of this fake campaign that claims a user's account will be suspended in 24 hours for violating Instagram's Copyright Law. It triggers the users with a copyright notice and the users who wish to refute the claim can do so by clicking on the 'Copyright Objection Form' button embedded in the same email.

What can you safeguard your account? 

It is a matter of fact that yes; some of the Instagram users are bound to fall for such kind of scams. If you have got either your account hacked or credentials stolen but can still access the account, you first need to check whether your correct email id and mobile number are still associated with your account or not. For doing so, click on 'Edit Profile' option and scroll down to view the current mobile number and email id.

If the attackers have changed the info, try to enter your details. After this, you should change your password as well, which would automatically log off all devices currently logged into your account, and give you the full control of your account. In case you lose complete access to your account, you can report the incident to Instagram's security and wait for Instagram to confirm your identity with either your mobile number or email id using which you had signed up.

Such scams are yet another reminder for all the users to read the emails carefully and further inspect the URLs of all the links. They should also enable two-factor authentication on their social media accounts for protecting their identity and private details.

[Disclaimer: If you've received such messages, please share your experience of how you felt. We will publish select responses of how people panicked in this story. Email responses to editor@ibtimes.co.in]