Instagram unleashes a community of hackers stealing and reselling usernames

The social networking site Instagram announced on Wednesday, February 4, that it had unleashed a group that hacked accounts to resell users’ names. According to the information on the sub-website, Confirmed Many American media.

This is the company that owns Facebook Disabled hundreds of related accounts To a forum called OGUsers. It is a place that presents itself as a platform for buying and selling usernames on social networks. You can register a username you have booked on a platform and put it up for sale, for example Instagram. In practice, Wise says, many accounts have, in recent years, been hacked, stolen and then resold within this community.

Facebook has also announced that it has identified the identities of some internet users involved in these practices Sending them a lawyer letter Orders them to stop all their activities on the social network within forty-eight hours.

Accounts were deleted on several social networks

Many accounts were hacked because the username was considered rare and therefore valuable. Surely Screen shot by IT security analyst Brian Krebs, We can see the reseller’s account, he is specifically proposing to buy the username “Cigarette” on Telegram or “Bee” on Instagram. A social network is so popular that it is very difficult to get some very short or well-known usernames that are often excluded by internet users from the birth of the platform.

Instagram alone was not affected as some accounts on Snapshot, Telegram, Dictoc or other sites were subject to the same underground trade. According to Many media, Social networks took action against accounts bought or sold on the platform with the names of Digtok and Twitter users. It should be noted Terms of use Prohibits the sale or purchase of accounts or usernames on Instagram.

Well known forum

According to Wise, Username Traffic Particularly well oiled, and members of the OGUsers community involved in account theft noticed the working class, with some Internet users playing a middleman between sellers and buyers of usernames.

Already in 2018, the motherboard Published a lengthy survey of practices Hackers who steal and resell rare usernames on social media including Instagram. The site specifically describes the use of so-called “SIM transfer”, which is a method of showing your victim to receive calls and SMS to a phone operator. In this way, you can reset the target’s password or face some security measures against hacking, such as dual authentication (sending additional code, sometimes via SMS, each time a new link is made to an account).

The forum has always defended itself against the promotion and official recognition of certain illegal activities, presenting itself as a simple business platform. But already in 2018 the Motherboard survey shows that stolen usernames are being sold in a variety of different ways. Common.

On Friday, February 5, an OGUsers reviewer posted a forum post nicknamed Ace – which appears to be a direct reaction to actions taken by Instagram and other social networks – in which most of the previous releases have been deleted, and he recalls it. “Any illegal activity on OGUsers.com is strictly prohibited. “