CERT-In warns against Instagram phishing scam - Times of India

Social media platforms come with its own pros and cons. While they help connect and communicate with friends and family, there is also an associated risk of theft of the personal information. Popular photo-sharing app Instagram is one of the platforms where scamsters have been luring customers into phishing scams. Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, CERT-In, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has warned users against Instagram phishing attacks via a post on Twitter.
CERT-In has shared an image in the tweet that explains how the scam occurs. Initially, the victim will be contacted via Instagram DMs. The message could be related to sharing images or products for sale. It will usually have a link that the scamster will ask to click.

As a user clicks on this link, he/she may lose control of their email account, the Twitter post warns. “Other online services connected to that email account could be compromised,” it added.
Scamster may also try to crack the password of the victim’s other online accounts. Further, he/she may blackmail the victim or impersonate as the victim himself and contact those in his friend list.
In the post, CERT-In further warns that the fraudsters may get through the email-based Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and change security settings. Once the scammers succeed in doing so, it exposes sensitive documents, financial and personal information of the victim.
For those unaware, October is being celebrated as National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) globally. For the same, the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents Cert-In (Computer Response Emergency Team) is running cyber security awareness campaigns across the country. Instagram phishing scam warning was shared as part of the ongoing campaign.