[Sean Camara]

Social media users beware: scammers are demanding hostage-style videos for money​

Scammers are becoming more creative and demanding these days, victimising those who are only looking to earn some passive income. They're coming up with new ways to target people, and they're getting more aggressive in their approach. If you're not careful, you could easily become a victim of one of these scams.

Singer-songwriter Emma Tomlinson has become the latest victim of a new scam, which involves con-men hacking and harassing social media users into filming hostage-style videos for money.

Emma acknowledged that she had lost more than $3,000 as a result of falling victim to the vicious scam that is currently taking over Instagram.

The budding Brisbane artist claimed that a scammer gained access to her account by pretending to be a trusted friend and pestering her to enter a contest.

'All of a sudden she asked for my Instagram details and I innocently gave my email and then all of a sudden my Instagram got hacked and I was completely locked out and couldn't get back in,' she said in an interview with A Current Affair.

'I went into a state of shock. I couldn't believe it had happened.'

Emma then recalled how the fraudsters demanded her to record a video of herself promoting a bitcoin investment scam in exchange for access to her account.

In the video, the artist can be heard saying: 'Hi everyone, I've just invested in bitcoin mining and received a profit in three hours ... the business is legit and definitely worthwhile and the person I am working with is real.'

The scammers forced Emma to film a video of herself promoting the scam bitcoin business after they hacked into her Instagram account. Credit: Channel Nine.​

However, the company is fraudulent and the individual running it is a fraud.

What's worse was instead of Emma gaining access to her account, the scammers posted the video from her profile and distributed them to her followers in an effort to con more people.

The artist said: 'They said you have to pay $200 and they made me download an app. Now the app they made me download is called trust.'

'They then made sure I sent screenshots of my movements on this app and how I paid them $200.'

And if you think Emma's horrors ended there, you're unfortunately mistaken.

The hackers threatened to publish a website of the 22-year-old selling fake x-rated photographs of her unless she paid them $3000.

Emma shared: 'It said, "for all new signups free shower videos for a month".'

'It just disgusted me.'

Emma was harassed and scammed out of more than $3000 by con-men in an elaborate new scheme. Credit: Channel Nine. ​

Emma also claimed that calling Instagram's general assistance line resulted in dead ends and that no one ever returned her calls.

She said: 'I had a very big breakdown. Yes, it may be a social media account, but when it is a part of your business and you've worked eight hard years on it, building your audience, it was everything to me.'

According to IDCARE analyst Kathy Sunstrum, Meta, the company that manages social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has experienced a 40% spike in these scams over the past year, with losses to the cyber scam support service alone totalling $105 million.

She explained: 'It is because it is so effective. If you think a friend is telling you about a good deal you are more likely to look into yourself.'

'So many of these social media takeovers can be avoided if people put on the proper privacy setting from the get-go.'

'Put up a two-factor authentication system, not just on their social media account. It is important they have it on their email as well.'

The scammers threatened to publish a website selling fake explicit photos of the young artist if she does not follow their demands. Credit: Channel Nine.​

Additionally, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) pointed out that other Australian celebrities like The Today Show host Karl Stefanovic and Dick Smith appeared in cryptocurrency advertisements published by Meta, speculating that these personalities may not consent to have their images used on these posts.

This has been the ACCC's grounds to file a lawsuit against Meta.

Emma has, however, said that this initiative is not enough to protect victims like her.

She remarked: 'Step up your game because this is very scary and it does ruin someone's life.'

A Meta spokesperson commented on the issue, saying that the company is now imposing cybersafety precautions.

The representative said: 'We use a combination of technology, human review, and user reports to find and remove violating content, including scams, and we encourage people to report suspicious content when they see it. We provide our community with robust in-app tools to report any content they believe violates our guidelines.'

'Account safety is our community's first line of defence. We encourage our community to pick strong and unique passwords, to never share them with anyone, and to turn on 2 Factor Authentication in their Settings to protect their account.'

'Additionally, we recently launched Security Checkup worldwide, a feature that guides people, whose accounts may have been hacked, through the steps needed to secure them. This includes checking login activity, reviewing profile information, confirming the accounts that share login information and updating account recovery contact information such as phone number or email.'

We should be extra careful when using our social media accounts these days. Scammers are getting more aggressive in victimising people. They may pose as a friend or acquaintance, and try to trick you into giving them personal information or money.

Here are some tips to protect yourself from scammers:

• Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know.
• Be wary of messages or posts that look like they’re from a friend, but are actually from a scammer. If you’re not sure, contact your friend directly to confirm.
• Don’t click on links or open attachments from people you don’t know. They could contain viruses or lead you to a scam website.
• Don’t give out personal information, like your Social Security number, birth date, or bank account information.
• Don’t pay upfront for something that’s promised, like a loan or investment.

If you think you’ve been scammed, contact your social media platform and report the scammer. You should also contact the ACCC's ScamWatch and report the incident.

Stay safe out there, folks!

 

[Suzanne rose]

Unfortunately social media is one of the biggest selling points for businesses, we had one staff member concentrating on up loading and posting on face book and instagram .

My niece contacted me on instagram wanting my details stating she had problems with her account , it wasn't her but someone in Nigeria who hacked into her account.
They were calling me Aunty no name and I knew straight away it wasn't her.

It took her 2 days to get her account back.

I think changing passwords regularly is a good idea

 

[gordon1940]

Let me get this straight, there was a “ demand” made to become involved in an untruthful Video and she agreed?

 

[lozat54]

Scammers are becoming more creative and demanding these days, victimising those who are only looking to earn some passive income. They're coming up with new ways to target people, and they're getting more aggressive in their approach. If you're not careful, you could easily become a victim of one of these scams.

Singer-songwriter Emma Tomlinson has become the latest victim of a new scam, which involves con-men hacking and harassing social media users into filming hostage-style videos for money.

Emma acknowledged that she had lost more than $3,000 as a result of falling victim to the vicious scam that is currently taking over Instagram.

The budding Brisbane artist claimed that a scammer gained access to her account by pretending to be a trusted friend and pestering her to enter a contest.

'All of a sudden she asked for my Instagram details and I innocently gave my email and then all of a sudden my Instagram got hacked and I was completely locked out and couldn't get back in,' she said in an interview with A Current Affair.

'I went into a state of shock. I couldn't believe it had happened.'

Emma then recalled how the fraudsters demanded her to record a video of herself promoting a bitcoin investment scam in exchange for access to her account.

In the video, the artist can be heard saying: 'Hi everyone, I've just invested in bitcoin mining and received a profit in three hours ... the business is legit and definitely worthwhile and the person I am working with is real.'

The scammers forced Emma to film a video of herself promoting the scam bitcoin business after they hacked into her Instagram account. Credit: Channel Nine.​

However, the company is fraudulent and the individual running it is a fraud.

What's worse was instead of Emma gaining access to her account, the scammers posted the video from her profile and distributed them to her followers in an effort to con more people.

The artist said: 'They said you have to pay $200 and they made me download an app. Now the app they made me download is called trust.'

'They then made sure I sent screenshots of my movements on this app and how I paid them $200.'

And if you think Emma's horrors ended there, you're unfortunately mistaken.

The hackers threatened to publish a website of the 22-year-old selling fake x-rated photographs of her unless she paid them $3000.

Emma shared: 'It said, "for all new signups free shower videos for a month".'

'It just disgusted me.'

Emma was harassed and scammed out of more than $3000 by con-men in an elaborate new scheme. Credit: Channel Nine. ​

Emma also claimed that calling Instagram's general assistance line resulted in dead ends and that no one ever returned her calls.

She said: 'I had a very big breakdown. Yes, it may be a social media account, but when it is a part of your business and you've worked eight hard years on it, building your audience, it was everything to me.'

According to IDCARE analyst Kathy Sunstrum, Meta, the company that manages social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has experienced a 40% spike in these scams over the past year, with losses to the cyber scam support service alone totalling $105 million.

She explained: 'It is because it is so effective. If you think a friend is telling you about a good deal you are more likely to look into yourself.'

'So many of these social media takeovers can be avoided if people put on the proper privacy setting from the get-go.'

'Put up a two-factor authentication system, not just on their social media account. It is important they have it on their email as well.'

The scammers threatened to publish a website selling fake explicit photos of the young artist if she does not follow their demands. Credit: Channel Nine.​

Additionally, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) pointed out that other Australian celebrities like The Today Show host Karl Stefanovic and Dick Smith appeared in cryptocurrency advertisements published by Meta, speculating that these personalities may not consent to have their images used on these posts.

This has been the ACCC's grounds to file a lawsuit against Meta.

Emma has, however, said that this initiative is not enough to protect victims like her.

She remarked: 'Step up your game because this is very scary and it does ruin someone's life.'

A Meta spokesperson commented on the issue, saying that the company is now imposing cybersafety precautions.

The representative said: 'We use a combination of technology, human review, and user reports to find and remove violating content, including scams, and we encourage people to report suspicious content when they see it. We provide our community with robust in-app tools to report any content they believe violates our guidelines.'

'Account safety is our community's first line of defence. We encourage our community to pick strong and unique passwords, to never share them with anyone, and to turn on 2 Factor Authentication in their Settings to protect their account.'

'Additionally, we recently launched Security Checkup worldwide, a feature that guides people, whose accounts may have been hacked, through the steps needed to secure them. This includes checking login activity, reviewing profile information, confirming the accounts that share login information and updating account recovery contact information such as phone number or email.'

We should be extra careful when using our social media accounts these days. Scammers are getting more aggressive in victimising people. They may pose as a friend or acquaintance, and try to trick you into giving them personal information or money.

Here are some tips to protect yourself from scammers:

• Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know.
• Be wary of messages or posts that look like they’re from a friend, but are actually from a scammer. If you’re not sure, contact your friend directly to confirm.
• Don’t click on links or open attachments from people you don’t know. They could contain viruses or lead you to a scam website.
• Don’t give out personal information, like your Social Security number, birth date, or bank account information.
• Don’t pay upfront for something that’s promised, like a loan or investment.

If you think you’ve been scammed, contact your social media platform and report the scammer. You should also contact the ACCC's ScamWatch and report the incident.

Stay safe out there, folks!

She fell for that?!?!?! As if social media is ever worth it????