Researchers warn that a phishing scam is targeting Instagram users via direct messages on the app.

Turkish-speaking cybercriminals are sending Instagram users seemingly legitimate messages from the social media company, with the aim of stealing their Instagram and email credentials.

Researchers said that the campaign has been targeting hundreds of celebrities, startup business owners, and other entities with sizeable followings on Instagram. This specific attack first came on researchers’ radar after a police officer with more than 16,000 followers on Instagram was targeted, they said.

While previous phishing messages leveraging Instagram as a lure have been sent via email, the attackers in this campaign send the phishing messages on Instagram’s platform itself. They pretend to be the Instagram Help Center and claim that a copyright violation complaint has been filed against the account owner – and that their account is now at risk of being deleted.

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