UAE Expat’s Instagram Account Hacked, Followers Scammed Out of Thousands

(Khaleej times) :An Abu Dhabi resident had her Instagram account hacked after falling for a fake Bitcoin investment offer, leading to several of her followers losing thousands of dirhams.

Tamim, a Palestinian-Canadian first-aid trainer, received a message on Instagram from the brother of an old friend who had moved to London. He convinced her to invest in Bitcoin and asked her to share a code sent to her phone. As soon as she shared the code, she was locked out of her own account.

“I called his sister, and she told me her brother had been hacked too,” Tamim said.

While Tamim didn’t lose any money, many of her followers did. The hackers used her account to send fake investment offers, including pictures of cash and golden coins, with messages like “Muna won this much, do you want to win too?”

The scammers tricked several followers into sending money. One of Tamim’s followers, a banker in Dubai, reported losing $30,000 after receiving a message from Tamim’s account. Another follower from Saudi Arabia sent $2,000, while a woman in the UAE borrowed Dh30,000 to invest, thinking it was real.

Tamim spent two weeks trying to regain control of her account but couldn’t get help from Instagram. She eventually paid an IT agent Dh500 to close the account and stop the scam.

“I couldn’t wait any longer; too many people were losing money,” she said. “I had to shut it down.”

Tamim learned her lesson and now avoids messages from strangers and never clicks on suspicious links. She warns others to be careful with online offers, especially from people they don’t know well.

Lt-Col Ali Al Nuaimi from Abu Dhabi Police said this type of scam is common, where fraudsters trick people into sharing their Instagram login details. Once they have access, they impersonate the person and scam their followers.

“This is social engineering,” he said. “Scammers don’t need to hack the account directly – they just need the person to hand over their login details.”