They imitate Instagram profiles to request bank details: Alert between users and SMEs for fraud | Technique

Recently, complaints about false profiles Instagram That seeks to deceive users into stealing their data credit cards.

It’s a method that has been repeated in recent days, with strangers creating an Instagram account to impersonate a company or organization profile.

For this, they look for the accounts that are made Competitions In the social network, and thus they start sending messages internally to the participants, to tell them that they are winners. This is when they ask the victim to enter a link so that later they can record their card details.

Jorge Lyell He is the builder of Penquista Games Store Holy ElfWho recently set up a contest among her followers. In conversation with Puebio ChileHe explained that after a few hours he realized another Instagram profile was pretending to be Santo Goblin to request bank details of different users.

“We posted a contest consisting of classics: comment on the post, tag it and share it in stories. He did a good job, started commenting on a lot of people, and suddenly one of our followers sent us a screenshot. He told us, “Beware, children, because they are pretending to be you.” He started to point.

“We checked and it was actually the exact same store name but with an underscore at the end. They tracked everything: profile picture, description and even the link to our website.”

Another user sent us a screenshot of a message, asking if this account belongs to us. And that’s when we realized that aside from creating a fake account, what they’re doing is suspending themselves from contests. I think they are constantly looking for the pages that run contests and send a message telling the prize winner that they only have 30 minutes to claim and access this link. From what the user said to us, the link requests bank details.

“When we found out, we immediately uploaded both a post and a story, letting people know about it, updating them, trying to reach as many people as possible, and warning us in the contest that we would never ask Bank credits, Is detailed. After asking users for help in reporting the account, on Monday morning they discovered that the account was no longer in existence.

Something similar happened to Jocelyn AlarconWho manages the account Sausage Adventure And Instagram.

Yesterday (Sunday) we started with an Instagram contest on the account of our dogs, and today in the morning we saw that we had many likes, many comments, and a big reception, and suddenly our same friends started talking to us, the same people who competed, By saying that they were receiving messages directly to their inbox, informing them that they have won, so they should follow the next steps., Handle.

This is how they realized it was another account, the only difference being that in the end it had a period and a lasso. “They send them a message in addition to a link in which they must enter all their data,” They also have to enter a credit card with their security number. And they tell you it’s about paying for the jackpot shipment that they won, “he said.

“Two people have already spoken to me on Instagram and told me that they have fallen into this scam, and that they have already contacted their bank to ban it. I feel they are underage, because most of the people are talking to me to ask me before doing it, and these two people tell me that they really fell and that they are very worried.”

“This is how we realized it, and what we were doing now so that no one fell was publishing and posting everywhere, warning that it was a hoax, that they did not fall, and they would never be required of them in competitions. Credit card, They will never request your data. The typical thing about the Instagram contest is that they share the story, and they name two people who want to participate and nothing else, ”he said.

It should be noted that the detail that catches the attention of these cases is that the messages sent by the fake accounts have obvious clerical problems, which suggests that those behind the scams may be outsiders using online translators.

Well-known sports journalist Christopher Anthony He is one of the people who has been affected by this identity theft on Instagram. On the occasion of the super celebration between the University of Chile and Colo Colo, he held a contest between more than 34 thousand followers on the social network.

“On match day, messages started arriving internally asking me if this was my account or not. There I was surprised that they created an account with my profile picture, and it said something like Christopher Antunez.cl,” he said.

“To everyone who participated, these people sent a message internally letting them know that they had won the jersey but had to present their credit card first. It was more or less a scam, because they tried to convince people to give them their bank details. “he added.

When I realized this, I promptly Delayed On the account, I asked some acquaintance to do the same, and also asked the people who asked me to report. I wrote a story and a post that explains that I have nothing to do with it. Some time ago, I checked my account, and the only person who can award prizes is my account, and no one else, “he specified.

“In 10 minutes, that account already had 400 followers, and there were 400 people who really thought they won the contest. And I hope no one falls.”

Hector Gonzalez, Orion Regional Cybersecurity Engineer, explained BioBioChile some time ago the premise on the Internet was: “If the information is very good or very attractive but the source is not reliable or unknown, the position is not for interaction.”

For this reason, the expert recommends checking that the URL and domain of the site are trustworthy. Additionally, it states that it should be closed immediately if the site asks to download files, fill out forms, or hand in information.

Likewise, Kaspersky’s Security Analyst in Latin America, Santiago Pontiroli, advises against providing private information, financial data, or credit or debit card numbers, and not to transfer cryptocurrencies to addresses to which we do not have a reference.