“I knew it was very possible I would’ve lost my money. I did not know I was going to lose my Instagram,” said Stephanie Anderson. “That was the last thing I would’ve thought.”
A decade worth of Instagram posts and memories of her child’s life are now gone.
“It was very devastating,” she said.
Anderson decided to cough up the money last Friday after she saw a friend do the same on Instagram – the friend ended up reaching out to Anderson in a direct message.
“She’s telling me all the steps and the details and I’m thinking it’s her, but it wasn’t her,” recalled Anderson. “It was the scammers.”
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Those scammers were pretending to be Anderson’s friend and told her to connect with an investor who had her record a scripted video.
“OMG you guys! I cannot believe I just made an investment of $1,300,” Anderson said in the video.
The last step was to click on a link that was sent to her to cash out her profits.
“Next thing I know, my Instagram is being hacked,” Anderson said.
The director of the USC Center for Computer Systems Security, Dr. Clifford Neuman, explained this is a classic case of a Ponzi scheme. Each case is different, but usually, hackers use phishing to get your password.
You’re safer if you don’t click on links sent to…
