Explained: The Instagram 'copyright infringement' scam many have fallen prey to

Written by Mohamed Thaver , Edited by Explained Desk | Mumbai | Updated: January 6, 2021 1:59:51 pm Instagram signage is displayed on a smartphone. (Bloomberg Photo: Gabby Jones) For the past few weeks, several people including celebrities have fallen prey to what is being termed as an ‘Instagram copyright infringement scam’. Fraudsters have been getting private details of users by posing as Instagram help centre executives. The latest to lose access to her account was actor Amisha Patel. How does the Instagram copyright infringement scam work? Several celebrities, including Urmila Matondkar, Asha Bhosle and Amisha Patel, have received a message on their Instagram accounts where the sender, usually a verified ID titled ‘Help Center’, claims he/she is associated with the ‘Instagram/Copyright infringement Center’. The message reads, “Hello Instagram user, we have received many complaints about your account for a long time. We wanted to inform you about this. Before you delete your account, some of the posts you posted are against our community guidelines. If you think the copyright infringement statement is false, you must provide feedback. Otherwise, your account will be permanently deleted from the platform within 72 hours.” A “Copyright Appeal Form” is attached in the form…
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