Warning signs fraudsters have hacked your Instagram account without you knowing

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Instagram can be a great place to find the latest fashion, hilarious memes, and to connect with friends. Although the social media platform is all fun and games until your account gets hacked, that is.

While you may think only Influencers with thousands of followers are vulnerable to cybercriminals, it can happen to anyone, and sometimes it's not always obvious that you've been hacked.

Digital security experts have explained the warning signs to look out for to see if your profile has been accessed by someone else, and what to do if you find yourself in that situation, reports Daily Record.

Tom Gaffney, a principal security expert at F-Secure, believes that fake brand accounts, usually pushing counterfeit goods, may be responsible. “Instagram scams are rampant right now, a result of its growing popularity and influence,” he said. READ MORE: UKHSA issues update on Salmonella cases linked to Kinder products “The power of Instagram is in how many followers you have – the more followers these brands can build, the more they can push other nefarious activity.” Stuart Dobbie, SVP of innovation at Callsign, warns that fraudsters target social media accounts in an attempt to steal confidential information. “Regardless of whether you have a lot of followers, your Instagram profile will have your phone number, email address and other pieces of information private to you," he added. "If a fraudster hacks into this, they can access all of it – and they can then use this information elsewhere.” In some cases – usually accounts with many followers – the hackers will contact the owner and threaten to delete the account if a ransom (usually Bitcoin) isn’t paid.