A new report suggests thousands of Instagram users are falling for a scam that targets followers of financial institutions on the image-sharing platform.
So I began following Bank of America’s official account to see what would happen. Sure enough, the first message arrived in moments.
“Hey are you interested ib [sic] making some extra cash.”
To you and I, this message – which, let’s be honest, lacks any real salesmanship – seems highly dubious.
But be it because of gullibility, recklessness, or, most likely, desperation, others have been lured in.
ZeroFox, a security company specialising in social media, says it has found more than two million public Instagram posts that push this kind of scam, known as money-flipping.
The term refers to a con in which criminals convince their victims to hand over access to funds with the promise that they will multiply their value via a trick they know, in return for a share of the profits. They then abscond with the sum, leaving their target out of pocket.
The firm estimates that for every such account Instagram closes, three more appear in its place.
Messages like the one I received begin a to-and-fro chain of messages, which can cost the banks dear – they often end up compensating affected customers and swallowing the cost of the fraud.
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