SINGAPORE: Some Instagram users have received messages supposedly from their followers that promise gifts that they can redeem by keying in their password in a separate login page that looks deceptively like an Instagram page.
But simply tapping on these links appears to be enough for hackers to gain access to users’ accounts – even without entering one’s password.
In cases seen by The Straits Times, users first receive a message from a follower with a compromised account claiming he has a gift for them. The message usually says: “This took a few hours to make. I hope you love it.”
The contents of these gifts are never specified.
The message comes with a personalised link directing them to a separate website that includes the receivers’ username, tricking them into believing the link was crafted especially for them.
Shortly after, swindlers gain access to the user’s account and use it to broadcast a similar scam message to other followers, who in turn may be deceived into thinking their friends are offering them a gift.
A similar line of Instagram scams was reported in overseas media, including British newspaper The Independent, which warned that the login page is a sham that allows hackers to enter users’ accounts.
It reported: “There (are) no gifts – and instead, that page will simply steal a user’s password, with affected people reporting that they are simply…
