So They Cloned Your Instagram Account. Mine Too. What Now?

My Instagram account was cloned today.

My first thought is who would ever want to impersonate me? I am hands-down, one of the most boring people you will ever meet. Second thing I thought was, great. This is my day now.

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Here's what I've learned:

Is There A Difference Between Hacking And Cloning?

Yes and the difference is big. From LinkedIn:

Hacking:

When your account is hacked, the attacker can:

Change your password, locking you out of your own account
Post or share inappropriate content on your behalf
Send spam or malicious links to your friends
Access and steal your personal information

Cloning:

The purpose of a cloned profile is typically to:
Send friend requests to your existing friends, who may accept them, believing it's you
Send phishing messages or malicious links to your friends, pretending to be you
Attempt to gather personal information from your friends or establish trust for future scams

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What Do You Do If Your Account Is Cloned?

From Instagram's Help Center:

Report an account that's impersonating you on Instagram
Instagram takes safety seriously. If someone created an Instagram account pretending to be you, you can report it to us.
If you have an Instagram account, you can report it to us from within the Instagram app.

What Can You Do If Your Friend's Account Is Cloned?

Report it to the app that has the cloned account. Then, tell your friend so they can turn the account in for impersonating as well.

As for my friends, thank you to those of you who got in touch with me this morning. For the others, please turn in this bogus account.

12 Shrewd Email Tactics Hackers Use To Rip You Off

Computer hackers are working full-time nowadays --not only to hold major corporations hostage with ransomware -but they're also hard at work trying to gain access to private computers and personal information of unsuspecting victims. Surrendering access to these schemers could have disastrous consequences, but sometimes it can be difficult to tell what's legitimate and what's not. That's why I'm sharing 12 emails I've personally received that appear to be as bogus as a three-dollar bill.

No doubt, you have received very similar emails in your inbox and wondered if they were legit. A good rule of thumb to follow is when you receive an email from an unverified source - do not, under any circumstance click on anything in the email or download any attachments. That is exactly how hackers can gain instant access to your computer and your information.

Gallery Credit: Zane Mathews