Feb 6, 2025
How to Report a Scammer on Instagram & Ensure Your Brand’s Authenticity
Scammers thrive on social media, and Instagram is no exception. If you’re a business owner or social media manager, you know that a scammer targeting your profile or followers can wreak havoc on your brand’s reputation. Not only can scammers ruin your credibility with their illicit activities, but they can also confuse your audience, leading to decreased trust in your brand. Knowing how to report a scammer on Instagram can help you eliminate these threats to your business and regain your brand’s credibility. This blog will share step-by-step instructions for reporting Instagram scammers and outline the information you need to provide to help get the scam account taken down quickly.
One way to boost your efforts and protect your brand’s trustworthiness is to use Bustem’s copycat detection tool. This valuable DMCA Takedown Google resource helps business owners and social media managers identify and report scam accounts to Instagram faster so they can focus on rebuilding their reputation.
Table of Contents
What are Instagram Scams?
Once upon a time, Instagram was a place to take a break from the stress of life and scroll through pretty pictures while avoiding discussions of upcoming elections. Today, you’ll still find recipe videos, tech tips, and photos of friends’ vacations, but you’ll also discover dubious advice, endless ads, fake accounts, and a wealth of Instagram scams.
The Psychology of Instagram Scammers
“Think of an Instagram scammer as a digital version of a pickpocket,” says Monica Eaton, chief operating officer of Chargebacks911. “A professional pickpocket won’t waste their time on an empty dirt road, right? Instead, a successful pickpocket needs to be where the people are: in large crowds, where it’s tough to identify everyone and the foot traffic is rapid.” With an estimated 2 billion users, that’s Instagram. Want to be better prepared to recognize and avoid Instagram scams? “Just like the real world, in the cyber land of Instagram, not everything is what it seems,” Eaton says. We spoke to Eaton and seven other identity theft, cybersecurity, and privacy experts for the latest information on everything from social media crypto scams to Instagram investment fraud.
What are Instagram scams?
Instagram scams are designed to target Instagram users. Scammers are constantly developing new ways to exploit unsuspecting users, and the types of scams continue to grow. “Just like there are different specialties in law, sports, medicine, and science, there are also different specialties when it comes to cybercrimes,” says Monica Eaton, chief operating officer of Chargebacks911. “Some hackers are masters at code. Others might focus near-exclusively on crypto. But today, many are pursuing platform-specific fraud schemes on popular social media sites.” If you’re not careful, you can lose money to bank scams and wire fraud on Instagram. You can unknowingly find counterfeit goods, send money to a paramour who doesn’t exist, or lose your life savings in a get-rich-quick scheme. Regarding Instagram scams, the possibilities (and types of scams) are seemingly endless.
Why Do Scammers Target Instagram?
The point of any scam is to put money in the scammers’ pockets, whether they’re doing this directly—through fake ads, for example—or through phishing and more indirect means. “Scammers, through Instagram, are seeking something specific, such as personal, confidential and/or financial information,” says Lisa Schiller, director of investigations and communications for the Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin. Social media is a low-cost way to reach billions of people, and hacking an Instagram account or manufacturing a fake persona is easier than ever. People make themselves vulnerable by posting personal details on Instagram, and it’s easy to see how scammers learn a target’s interests and gain clues on how to approach them best.
The Psychology of Deception: Exploiting Trust on Social Media
The fact that Instagram is an established social media platform may also work in scammers’ favor. It gives users a sense of security, making them less likely to suspect wrongdoing. “There is nothing particularly unique about Instagram that makes it vulnerable to scams, but it does provide a platform trusted by its users,” says Steven J.J. Weisman, an expert in scams, identity theft, and cybersecurity. “And when it comes to scams, trust is critical.”
The bottom line is that people scam on Instagram because others continue to fall for these schemes. “Instagram’s large, informal user base makes it a fertile ground for scammers,” says Vandan Pathak, a senior application security consultant at Optiv, a firm devoted to cybersecurity solutions. “Fraudulent accounts, which are easily created, blend into the crowd [comment sections] of legitimate corporate or individual accounts.”
The Most Common Scams on Instagram
Statistics aren’t available for how many people fall victim to these Instagram scams yearly, but online scams are increasing. According to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) data, “more than 1 in 4 people who reported losing money to fraud in 2021 said it started on social media with an ad, a post or a message.”
Online Shopping Scams on Social Media: A Growing Threat
Between January 2021 and January 2023, more money was lost to frauds originating on social media than any other contact method. Consumers reported losing $2.7 billion to social media scams during that period. The most frequently reported fraud loss in the first half of 2023 was from people who tried to buy something marketed on social media, which comprised 44% of all social media fraud loss reports:
Undelivered goods
No-show clothing
Electronics and so on
Phishing Scams: How They Work
Paul Bischoff, a privacy advocate with Comparitech, describes phishing as “an attack that uses social engineering to trick victims into handing over private information, installing malware or sending money.” Fraudsters may send you phishing emails or attacks via text message, known as smishing. In an Instagram phishing scam, someone tries to access your Instagram account by sending you a suspicious message or link asking for your personal information. “Instagram will never send emails or messages asking for your login information,” Hauk says. “If you turn over your password, you risk being locked out of your Instagram account.”
Inauthentic Seller Scams: What to Look For
Inauthentic sellers offer too-good-to-be-true sales on popular items and try to create a sense of urgency to get buyers to act quickly. These scammers request payment through a nonsecure method or misrepresent their location in their posts. “Similar to credit card fraud, these sellers will get you to buy something and then either send you counterfeit goods or just steal the payment card information you sent them,” Hamerstone says.
Fake Copyright Scams: What to Watch Out For
In this newer Instagram scam, con artists attempt to steal your Instagram password and go phishing for your email login. Victims receive a legitimate-looking email from someone posing as Instagram. According to the Better Business Bureau, the email goes like this: “You have violated copyright laws, and your account will be deleted within 24 hours.” It also tells you that if you think Instagram has made a mistake, you only need to click the button and “verify” your account.
Protecting Your Digital Identity: Staying Safe from Phishing Attacks
At this point, you’ll be redirected to a website that prompts you to input your Instagram credentials. That would be bad enough, but this scam goes one step further. A pop-up asks you to verify your email address. You’ll see a list of email providers, and the site will prompt you to enter your email address and password. This one is especially tricky because after you give up your Instagram and email login information, the phony site redirects you to the actual Instagram website, a clever way to make you think the interaction is over.
How to Identify Scams on Instagram
Your best defense is to double-check the “from” address in the email to be sure it’s actually from Instagram. “Any email from an Instagram representative will come from an address ending in @mail.instagram.com [or @support.instagram.com],” Eaton says. “If an email comes from somewhere else—even if it looks and sounds authentic—do not respond to it. And if you have questions, [email protected] and [email protected] are legitimate, real email accounts that were set up for you to forward dubious messages.” Eaton adds that Instagram won’t message you about copyright violations or send requests for your password. “Do not respond or reply to these messages, and never, ever click on any of the links,” she says.
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• Instagram Copyright Infringement
• Copycat Website
How to Report a Scammer on Instagram
Creating a fake Instagram account to impersonate another person or organization is illegal. If you are a registered trademark owner, Instagram must follow U.S. federal and potentially other relevant trademark laws in your location. Trademark infringement is strictly prohibited on Instagram, so if you find your brand being impersonated by others (they’ve stolen your trademark), you have the right to report this account, and Instagram must take action. Instagram also adheres to common law trademark rights, so it can ban accounts that infringe on unregistered trademarks, potentially including individual identity.
Protecting Your Brand on Instagram Even Without a Registered Trademark
So, even if you haven’t registered your trademark yet (i.e., you can’t register a particular name unless you are already famous), you can still take action against fraud and fake accounts impersonating your identity. Due to the visual nature of Instagram, trademark infringements can happen in various ways:
Logos
Brand names
Product design and so on
Identifying Impersonation Attempts on Instagram
Identifying impersonation attempts on Instagram can be tricky. With over a billion Instagram accounts online today, finding one or two accounts using your logos, name, or brand images might be easier said than done. Here are some approaches to try when attempting to find out whether someone is impersonating you.
1. Search on Instagram
The first (and easiest) thing to do is search for your brand’s name on the Instagram platform. You may also try searching for phrase variations, typos (i.e., Gogle instead of Google), etc. Instagram will show the search result listing all accounts using your brand name. Review these accounts one by one. Just because an account has a name similar to or the same as your brand’s name doesn’t mean it’s made maliciously to impersonate you.
Red Flags for Fake Instagram Accounts: Spotting the Impersonators
Evaluate other factors, such as the content they’re posting (i.e., if they’re copying content from your feed, then it’s a case of impersonation), where they claim they’re located, how they interact with others, and so on. Remember that accounts created with malicious intent tend to block the legitimate brand they’re impersonating. They do this to prolong their scam and reduce their chance of being spotted and reported by the company they’re pretending to be. You may have to log in through another account (i.e., your account) to perform this search. Also, try different spellings and variations of names, as bad actors like to be creative by switching letters or symbols in their account names to pull off their scams.
2. Search via Hashtags
You can leverage Instagram’s search algorithm and try using hashtags in your search to find fraudulent Instagram accounts. This is especially effective when the fake account attempts to sell products directly via Instagram. Sellers typically use product-specific hashtags to push their content toward the most relevant users.
The Pros and Cons of Hashtag Searches for Impersonators
For example, a brand like Apple might search for a hashtag like #airpods when looking for impersonators, whereas a brand like Hermes might search for hashtags like #birkin. You’ll need to be creative and meticulous when using this approach since, in practice, branded/product-specific hashtags are also used by:
Legitimate consumers
Resellers
Vendors
While this approach can be practical, remember that it can be time-consuming.
3. Reverse Image Search
You can also perform a reverse image search (i.e., via Google Images) to check whether there are accounts that have posted your photos or any photos of your products/logo on Instagram. Unfortunately, as you can imagine, this process can also be time-consuming.
4. Invest in a Real-Time Instagram Impersonation and Fraud Monitoring Solution
If you want to identify fake accounts impersonating your brand and take action quickly, investing in a social media protection tool like Bustem is best.
Reporting Impersonation of a Business Page
If your brand owns a legitimate Instagram business page, reporting the fraud and fake profile and getting it taken down is much easier. You can use Instagram’s trademark infringement form to report fake accounts using your trademarks. You’ll need to provide proof of ownership and prepare the required documents to prove that your registered trademarks have been infringed.
Building a Strong Case: Gathering Evidence of Trademark Infringement on Instagram
Having screenshots and other proof showing the account infringing your trademarks may also help. Typically, you’ll be required to submit a copy of your registration certificate proving ownership of the business/brand name used by the bad actor on the fake account. Once you’ve submitted this proof of ownership and other relevant evidence, Instagram will review the report to determine whether trademark infringement occurred. This report will serve as your official DMCA takedown request, and once it’s approved, Instagram will ensure the account is taken down and all content is removed.
What If You Don’t Hear Back?
If you submit the Instagram trademark infringement form and don’t hear any response after 48 hours, don’t panic. First, try submitting the form. There’s always the possibility of technical errors leading to your forms not being received. If there’s any change to the situation, update the information before you resubmit the form. If the second form is ignored again, try emailing Instagram’s support team. There may be underlying circumstances causing this delay, such as if the support team requires more time to evaluate whether the infringement occurred. The support team may request further information and proof before approving the report.
Finding Out the Culprit
Can you determine who made the fake account and take the necessary action? Unfortunately, this can be pretty challenging since Instagram will not reveal the identity of the bad actor behind the fraud for privacy purposes. Also, Instagram will not give you access to fraudulent accounts even after they are taken down. So, you’ll need to be proactive and take things yourself.
Tracing Fake Accounts: A Step-by-Step Guide
Here are some tips to help you find the culprit behind the fake account:
Try reaching out using the contact information provided in the Instagram bio. Communicate with them and ask for contact information that can be used to trace them.
You may want to make a test purchase if they sell counterfeit products. This allows you to see if the products are high-quality counterfeits, which might denote a problem in your supply chain. Still, it can also provide you with shipping details that may contain the address of where the bad actor is conducting business.
If they have any URLs in the bio, first use a URL checker such as ScanURL to confirm that it is safe to open. If it is, then open the website or app and attempt to trace the contact details. The contact information on the website may help you find the culprit.
If the impersonation attempt has caused you financial loss, it is worth pursuing the real culprit and taking legal action.
Related Reading
• How to Report Copyright Infringement on Etsy
• Report Infrigement Amazon
• Report Shopify Seller
• Tiktok Copyright Infringement
• Facebook Copyright Infringement Notice
• How to Submit a DMCA Takedown Notice
• DMCA Takedown Request
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