Instagram users warned over Ray-Ban SCAM - here’s how to stop your account being hacked
10 June 2019, 16:12 | Updated: 10 June 2019, 16:15
Here's how you can avoid falling victim to the scam which claims to sell Ray Ban sunglasses at a fraction of the price.
Social media users are being alerted to a new scam which could put their personal information at risk.
Over the last few days, you may have noticed that some of your Instagram friends have shared photos of hugely discounted Ray Ban sunglasses.
One particular photo advertises the designer shades for just £17.65, which is a whopping 90% off their original price of £199.90.
And if it sounds too good to be true, then you won’t be surprised to find out it is - with the link to the website actually leading to a scam which experts say may steal your login details.
If account is hijacked by the con artists, they can then post the photo on your profile too, which is why you’ve probably seen the cheap Ray Bans on your feed a fair few times.
Nick FitzGerald - who works for Internet security company ESET - has described it as a “continuation of the long-established abuse of compromised social media accounts.”
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Speaking to Mirror Online, he said: “Over the years we have seen Twitter , Facebook , Instagram and other online platforms abused to post ads for various footwear brands (notably Adidas and UGG), medications, and Ray-Bans, among many other things.”
Nick went on to explain people could fall victim to the scam as a result of “phishing,” which is when fraudsters reach out to customers pretending to be from reputable companies in order to trick them into revealing personal information.
He continued: “Perhaps the account owner was phished for their login credentials, either for Instagram or Facebook if they have linked their accounts, or for their credentials for some other account where they use the same credentials as for their Instagram account?
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“Another possibility is that their credentials have been involved in one of the many data breaches the last few years and someone has discovered their (almost) matching Instagram account and (almost) matching password."
The cyber safety expert also warned that using common passwords could put you at extra risk.
How can you protect yourself from falling for this scam?
It’s important not to click on any suspicious links that look too good to be true. It’s very unlikely any designer will be offering a 90% discount on social media.
However, if you accidentally click on something which seems dodgy, delete it straight away and immediately log out of all of your sessions on Instagram. This can be done by going to the 'settings' section on the app.
Make sure you change your password to something you’ve never used before and something which isn't too obvious. You can also set up ‘two-factor authentication’ which will text a code to your phone in order to add another layer of security.
