In the last few months I went through a situation worthy of the classic film of the 90’s called: The Other Face, by John Woo. Just to put it in context for those who haven’t watched the film, FBI agent Sean Archer, played by John Travolta, undergoes surgery to change faces with the villain, to infiltrate a gang, but in the meantime, terrorist Castor Troy , played by Nicolas Cage, who now has the face of the hero takes his place in the FBI, and his family.
not to give spoiler I’m going to stop here, but if you’re interested, I recommend you watch the movie, it’s worth it.
Returning to the case, profiles were created on Instagram and Facebook, which replicated all my content, but using another name: “Natalia Guseva”, informing that the alleged Natalia lived in London, and that it was a specialized trading company. All content was in English and the scam consisted of using my image to attract people with the intention of depositing money for this supposed “Natalia” who promised high profits in a short time using cryptocurrencies.
For the profile to look more real, in addition to my photos, possibly she took photos from other profiles, such as a family that had just bought a house, used this photo and put a text saying that she was very happy to have helped to accomplish another dream of its customers. This is just one example of several that she posted on her social networks, completely distorting reality.
It’s worth remembering that these types of blows don’t just happen on Instagram and Facebook, unfortunately virtually all social media are also used by criminals. That’s why it’s important to know the types of scams and ways to prevent them.
Below is a summary of the main scams and ways to protect yourself:
- Catfish (ou ‘Scam Romance’)
I’m going to start with what I went through, which can be classified as a Catfish (or ‘Scam Romance’), it is precisely the scam that people create fake profiles on social networks to deceive users, they use photos of people from other countries, whether on networks social media or even on google, and set up a completely fake profile and make some posts to give the necessary veracity and get the first followers.
Once these followers are already comfortable with this fake profile, the scam can vary, they can sell miraculous ways to earn money, promote courses, among others.
Another way is to send “directs” to followers asking for money, with a story that moves the victim or even the promise of a romantic encounter with the follower.
Many scammers are more aggressive and send messages threatening to have intimate photos of the victim, and if the victim does not make a payment as soon as possible, he will disclose it on the internet to all of the victim’s contacts.
In order not to fall for these scams, the tip is to search for the person’s profile name and photos on Google (currently Google already has an image search tool). As scammers use false images and information, it is very likely that you will find it in the search and unmask the person. If it’s a course or some money opportunity, try to set up a video chat to confirm that it’s the person. And more importantly, have guarantees before sending money, the recommendation is never to send money to strangers.
Scammers use images and information from other users, often with good looks, to lure victims.
- fake job offers
With the growing unemployment rate worldwide, many scammers take advantage of people’s desperation and create fake job offers and post them on Instagram, thus getting the victim’s personal information without raising much suspicion.
Before sending any information about a job vacancy, the ideal is that you look for the official pages of the companies mentioned and check if there really is an open vacancy or any recruitment process going on. If there is a vacancy or recruitment is taking place, always choose to send your information through the company’s official channels.
- fake draws
It is not uncommon for a company to hold sweepstakes in order to get more engagement on social media and increase the number of followers, but be aware that some scammers can create fake company profiles, with fake promotions to collect personal data. The scammer sends you a message saying that you supposedly won the draw and asks for personal data, such as emails, address, phone, documents, among other information, to “send the prize”.
To protect yourself, the first step is to verify that it really is the official profile of the brand, depending on the size of the company, it may have the profile verified, which would give greater confidence. Another point is always to be suspicious when they ask you for a lot of information to receive the prize, such as more than one document number or worse the photo of the document.
- Too good deals
Everyone likes to buy something cheap, but always be suspicious when you want to buy a product that costs “X” and it is half the price and you still get another unit as a gift. Many scammers create fake profiles advertising known products, for prices much lower than would be possible. In other cases, they clone the official profile of a brand and do a lightning promotion, where you must pay via PIX as soon as possible to take advantage of it before it runs out.
The first thing to prevent this type of scam is always to be aware, as the popular saying goes “when the alms are too much, the saint is suspicious”. The second thing is that we currently have many ways to check whether a website is reliable, the Reclame Aqui platform (it’s a good place to check the store, the Federal Revenue website allows you to check the status of a CNPJ (Procon de São Paulo has a list of suspicious stores (
- verification scam
The scam is simple, you receive in your e-mail or via “Direct” a message stating that someone tried to make unauthorized access to your account. The text will have a link for you to reset your password as soon as possible, but the scammer sends you a link that will direct you to a fake page, which will collect your current username and password. The message can come in many forms, but it always contains a link for the victim to enter personal data or passwords.
The tip in this case is to pay attention to the “URL”, the address you are directed to, if the site has a secure connection. If you are suspicious, change the password through the Instagram app, do not use the link sent by message or email.
- general safety tips
Unfortunately, I could list many other forms of scam, but the truth is that it would never end, there will always be a new scam to be explored. But there are simple safety tips that can go a long way toward avoiding a headache.
- Don’t use the same passwords for all services, if someone can figure out that single password they will have access to all your services.
- Create strong passwords, which have special characters, numbers, uppercase and lowercase in the same password, this makes it very difficult for someone to find out.
- Change your passwords frequently, it’s not uncommon to see news of password leaks from some service, if you don’t follow tip 1 yet, it’s more important to follow this recommendation.
- There are many services that have two-factor authentication, nothing more than adding one or more security factors that can vary depending on the service, for example when you withdraw money from an ATM, in addition to the password it asks for a few letters or in some cases fingerprints, these are other safety factors. It is highly recommended to use additional security factors when the option is available in the service;
- Be careful when using public wifi networks. If you are not sure who provides the service on a public wifi, be careful as your data can be intercepted. If possible, choose your cell phone network, either 4G or 5G.
Many of these tips you must have looked at and thought, everyone already knows, but do you remember the last time you changed your passwords?
And one last important piece of information, if you discover a fake profile, report it. Most social networks have simple forms of reporting and don’t worry, the report is usually made anonymously. This is one of the few tools we have to try and stop this type of scam.
After several complaints, on Instagram and Facebook, I finally managed to have the fake profile removed.
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