Recently I was fooled by a “Fake Merchandise Scam” scammer on Instagram. It really pissed me off. I’ve been SO cautious all these decades of internet use. Last week my guard was down. I was tired and feeling lazy, wanted a chat, and well, the next thing I knew thought I was talking to a person in England who had a jewelry website, but I was actually talking to a person whose account was based out of Nigeria. Unfortunately, I thought to click “About this account” in their profile after the conversation. The Nigerian who had no jewelry for sale but was ready to take my money—through a Paypal account “Please send it as “Friend” to save on taxes for me.” Oh and if you are not happy with my product (because it doesn’t exist) you will not be able to get your money back. Let’s do it! They know me so well. I’m always ready to throw money out the window to a complete stranger half a world away! Holy Moly!
While researching how many fake accounts are on Instagram I unearthed a mixed bag of numbers, (see site links below) A website called PRWeek claimed in 2020 55% of accounts were fake. A “person” can create as many accounts as they want, it is unlimited. However, you can only switch between 5 accounts on the same device. Instagram is probably an ideal target for scammers because it is so widely used. Statista, in 2021, placed the number at 1.21 billion monthly active users. Statista goes on to suggest the platform held 28 percent of the world’s internet users. Recently in 2023, a site called Demandsage claims there are 2.35 billion “monthly active Instagram users”. In 2022 Kicktsa Blog claimed, “Instagram has an estimated 95 million fake accounts. With a total user base of around 1 billion, that means roughly 1 in 10 Instagram accounts are fake.”
Would I have responded to the entrepreneur if I knew there was a 90% chance they were a scammer? Hell no. I simply wasn’t thinking. The whole interaction with the friendly jewelry designer from England miffed me. I put my Instagram on “private” and started to remove followers whose names had an unusual amount of numbers in them. At the same time, what I can only imagine is a full-out attack from the Nigerian scammer army, I began to get 6-8 chat requests from people unknown to me a day. Men, really good-looking, age-appropriate men attempted to chat me up. How nice. It must be my new night cream. A response gives the stranger access to your account. In other words, you are in a fortified castle and lowering the gate, inviting the enemy to come in for a sitdown and biscuits. Not advisable. You will be sacked.
What Is Instagram doing to remove fake accounts?
It wasn’t until 2023 that Meta, the company that owns Instagram began to utilize fake account-detecting software.
“In an effort to steer the platform clear of inauthentic activities, Instagram will be deleting fake Instagram followers. Instagram wants to provide a completely authentic, genuine experience to its users. In pursuit of this, Instagram has unleashed machine learning tools for identifying accounts that have fake followers.”
unboxsocial
Platform Building is No More
OK, time to up the draw bridge, place archers at the wall. My updated Instagram now has about 75 people that I’ve met in person or know to be in fact real, and I follow about 80 sites. I only engage with the real-reals who I know-know. In the teens, platform building was a way to cross-pollinate and get new customers to your sale site. The 20s are proving to be a difficult place to advertise. Money is involved if you want to do it properly. In a sense, all the scammers are weeding out the small-timers like me. I’m starting to ask questions. Rethinking everything.
Should I keep my website?
Do I need to advertise at all?
Does my product need a platform?
How will potential buyers find me and my books?
Perhaps I should go on tour, and sell books face-to-face?
Will any of this matter in two years, five years, or even 10 years from now?
How much time and energy do I want to continue contributing to my writing?
Will a potential buyer respect and trust me if I DO NOT have an internet presence?
Lastly, does it make me happy?
Here is how I feel today in the form of a meme. Hope you have a safe and happy day.
Right now it’s a powerful industry in and on itself estimated at $5 to $10 billion, according to a MediaKix study. But there’s a dark side to it. Inauthentic engagement can result in losses as high as $100 million per year for marketers who don’t keep an eye out for Instagram fake followers.
https://trendhero.io/blog/check-fake-followers-instagram/
I do not endorse Auras fraud protection services, but they have a pretty good video explaining many of the scams.
https://www.aura.com/learn/instagram-scams
This site has some great graphs about Meta’s reports by a quarter of spam, fraud, and nudity accounts Meta took action on.
https://dazeinfo.com/2023/05/24/fake-accounts-and-spam-content-on-facebook-instagram-meta-q1-202/
shannon p. laws 