Police warn public over wave of social media hacking crimes

CUMBRIA Police have warned against a wave of hackings that have been used to target people financially. The police posted on twitter: “Criminals use hacked social media accounts to extort victims for money. “Don’t make life easy for them, use our top tips to secure your accounts properly Down pointing backhand index.” Between February 2020 and February 2021, Action Fraud received 15,214 reports about email and social media account hacking. The 88% of reports were made by individuals, with 12% of reports being made by businesses. Analysis of the crime reports revealed that Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat were the most affected social media accounts, with direct messages being the most common tactic used by cyber criminals to lure unsuspecting victims Police encourage vigilance online and not to respond to any accounts you do not recognise, or click on any links that are sent by unverified accounts. Additional information can be found at http://orlo.uk/kGCoP.
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