Instagram scams: the common ones, and how to check a profile
Instagram's own help center names investment, romance, lottery, job, loan, donation, inheritance, commerce and paid-subscription scams, and its impersonation page explains how to report an account pretending to be you, someone you follow, a celebrity or public figure, or a business. The pattern is usually the same: an unexpected message creates urgency, pushes you off Instagram, then asks for money, a fee, a password or a verification code. Report the account in the app, and check the profile's photos against public pages before you trust it.
FaceSearch editorial team · Published
Key points
- Instagram says it will never send you a direct message about your account in the Instagram app; check official emails in your Settings.
- Report an impersonating account from the profile: Options, Report, Report Account, It's pretending to be someone else.
- A fake giveaway or lottery win usually asks for an advance fee, your card details or a login; a real prize does not.
- On a seller's profile, About This Account shows when it was created, its country and former usernames; check its photos elsewhere too.
- Never send money, a verification code or a password; report the account to Instagram and the scam to the FTC.
What scams does Instagram's help center name?
Instagram's Avoid getting scammed on Instagram page lists these common scams: investment, romance, job, lottery, loan, donation, inheritance, commerce and paid-subscription scams. Instagram also keeps impersonation in a reporting process of its own.
| Scam | How it starts | What the scammer wants |
|---|---|---|
| Lottery or prize (the FTC calls it a giveaway scam) | A message says you are one of the only winners of a lottery you never entered, sometimes impersonating a person or organization you know | A small advance fee, your address or your bank details to verify your identity |
| Romance | Romantic messages from a stranger, often claiming to be divorced, widowed or in a bad marriage | Money or information for a flight or visa, after weeks or months of trust-building |
| Investment | A promise to turn a small sum into a larger one, or a get-rich-quick or cash-flipping scheme | Money sent to the scammer or a fake investment platform |
| Job | A fake job posting or recruiter message, sometimes asking you to pay upfront | Upfront payment, personal data or a copy of your ID |
| Commerce | Goods at too-good-to-be-true prices, with pressure to move to email or a chat app | Payment, often in cryptocurrency, for goods that never arrive |
| Impersonation | An account pretends to be you, someone you follow, a celebrity, a business or an Instagram support agent | Money, login details, a verification code or your ID |
How does an Instagram scam usually start?
A typical Instagram scammer opens with an unexpected message, comment or ad that creates urgency and then moves you toward a payment or a login page. The account may be one of the fake Instagram accounts scammers create, or a real account they have taken over. Instagram's own warning signs include people asking you to move the conversation off Instagram, people claiming a romantic connection quickly and then asking for money, and messages saying your account will be banned unless you act.
An unexpected message
A DM, comment, ad or a hacked friend's account starts the conversation.
Urgency
Your account will be deleted, a prize is about to expire, or an investment promise sounds too good to be true.
A move off Instagram
The scammer asks to continue on another app, by email or through a link.
The ask
Money, a gift card, cryptocurrency, a password, a verification code or a copy of your ID.
The disappearance
The scammer disappears with the payment, or the fake investment dashboard stops paying out.
How do fake Instagram giveaways work?
A fake giveaway mimics a real brand promotion: a comment or DM says you have won, then a link asks for a shipping fee or your card details. Instagram's help center calls this a lottery scam; the FTC calls it a social media giveaway scam and says scammers hijack real businesses' promotions. The FTC's test is simple: ask whether the business needs your credit card number to give you a free prize.
- Check the brand's own account and website for the promotion, not the account that tagged you.
- Do not pay a shipping fee, tax or processing charge to claim a prize.
- Report the post or account to Instagram, and the scam to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
How do you report an impersonating account on Instagram?
Report the account from its profile: open the profile, choose Options, then Report, Report Account and It's pretending to be someone else. Instagram's help page says you can report an account pretending to be you, someone you follow, a celebrity or public figure, or a business or organization; if you are being impersonated but do not have an Instagram account, use the form linked from that page.
- Instagram impersonation reports are anonymous, except for intellectual-property reports; the account will not see who reported it.
- Instagram says you can only report an account for impersonating someone or something, not for misrepresenting itself.
- If someone is impersonating a child or someone you represent, use the impersonation form.
Open the profile
Click or tap the username from a feed or story post, or search for it.
Open Options
Click or tap Options next to the username.
Choose Report
Select Report, then Report Account.
Choose impersonation
Select It's pretending to be someone else.
Pick the type
Choose you, someone you follow, a celebrity or public figure, or a business or organization, then follow the prompts.
How can you tell whether a profile's photos are someone else's?
A fake Instagram profile can copy a real person's photos, so look for a mismatch between the account and the photos elsewhere, but no single check proves whose photos they are. For sellers, Instagram's help center points to About This Account, which can show when the account was created, the country it is based in and any former usernames. The FTC's romance-scam guide then suggests a reverse image search of the profile picture and asks whether it is associated with another name or with details that don't match up.
| Check | What it shows | What it leaves open |
|---|---|---|
| About This Account | When the account was created, its country and former usernames | Whether the photos belong to the person using them |
| Reverse image search | Where else the photo appears online | Whether a match is the same person, a stock photo or a stolen picture |
| Face search | The same face on public web pages, including under other names | Anything behind a login, in a private account or in messages |
- An account with no profile photo, no followers or no real-looking activity fits the pattern Instagram describes.
- A face search result is a lead, not a verdict; see how accurate a face match is.
- No public photos does not prove someone is fake; see why a face search returns no results.
Can a face search help?
A face search can answer one narrow question: whether the face in a profile's photos appears on public web pages, and under what names. FaceSearch compares the face in a photo you upload against images on the public web. It cannot log in to Instagram or see private accounts, direct messages, followers or the profile's login history. What it can show is the mismatch the FTC tells you to look for: the same face on a public page under a different name or with a different story. Run a face search with one clear photo from the profile. If it returns nothing, that is not proof the person is real.
- It can show: the same face on public pages, including under other names.
- It cannot show: anything inside a private account or a direct message.
- For the Instagram-specific workflow, see face search on Instagram.
What should you do if you were scammed on Instagram?
Stop responding, secure your account, and report both the account and the payment. Instagram's phishing page says that if you entered your password on a strange link, reset it and log out of devices you don't own. The FTC says that if you paid by gift card, wire transfer, credit or debit card, or cryptocurrency, contact the company or your bank right away, tell them you paid a scammer and ask for a refund. Report the scam to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and if your account was taken over, use Instagram's recovery page at instagram.com/hacked.
- Change your password and log out of any devices you don't own.
- Turn on two-factor authentication; Instagram calls it the single most effective step.
- Check official Instagram emails in your Settings; the help center says you can view emails sent in the last 14 days there.
- Report suspicious emails to phish@instagram.com.
- If you reused that password on other sites, change it there too; Instagram says never reuse a password.
“Instagram will never send you direct messages about your account in the Instagram app.”
Sources
- Avoid getting scammed on Instagram, Instagram
- Report an account for impersonation, Instagram
- Protect yourself from phishing on Instagram, Instagram
- Secure your Instagram account, Instagram
- Reported losses to scams on social media eight times higher than in 2020, Federal Trade Commission
- How to spot the top scams that started on social media, Federal Trade Commission
- Slow your scroll: Spot and avoid social media giveaway scams, Federal Trade Commission
- What To Know About Romance Scams, Federal Trade Commission
How this article was made
An AI model drafted this article from the sources listed above, following our editorial procedure. A member of the FaceSearch team checked it against those sources and approved it before it was published. Editorial policy