Copyright scammers get Instagram accounts suspended and demand payment
Brief
Scammers are abusing Meta’s copyright-reporting system to suspend people’s Instagram accounts and then hold them for ransom, according to the BBC .
Criminals file fake copyright complaints with Instagram, claiming that an account is using material it doesn’t own. Repeated complaints can trigger a temporary account suspension from the platform, locking out the victim even though they haven’t done anything wrong. The criminal then moves the conversation to another platform, such as Telegram, and demands a ransom to withdraw the complaint.
We’ve reported on a similar scheme before . In that case, scammers abused Instagram’s reporting system to get accounts taken down and then charged their owners to restore them.
The BBC interviewed the owner of a history-focused Instagram account who said that he had been hit by copyright claims multiple times from the same email address.