Social media and email hacking are on the rise, with 18,011 reports made to Action Fraud between August 2022 and July 2023. Of these, 4,092 victims reported being extorted for money or having their accounts used to commit fraud.
There are two main types of account takeovers: on-platform takeovers and email compromise and phishing. In on-platform takeovers, the scammer will trick a victim into sharing or altering crucial account details through the messaging element of the service. In email compromise and phishing, the scammer will send a fake email that appears to be from a legitimate source, such as a bank or social media company. The email will contain a link that, when clicked, will take the victim to a fake website that looks identical to the real website. If the victim enters their login details on the fake website, the scammer will be able to steal them. There are a number of things you can do to protect yourself from social media and email hacking:
- Use strong and different passwords for all of your online accounts.
- Turn on 2-factor authentication for all of your online accounts.
- Be careful about what links you click on in emails. If you are unsure whether an email is legitimate, do not click on any links in the email. Instead, go to the website directly by typing the address into your web browser.
- Keep your software up to date. Software updates often include security patches that can help to protect your devices from malware and other threats. If you think that your social media or email account has been hacked, you should change your password immediately and report the incident to the relevant authorities.
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| Action Fraud warns of social media account and email takeover scams |