"Tap to get back into your Instagram account" text messages: It's a scam (2024)

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on May 25, 2021) follows:

The Internet has been housing many hackers and frauds ever since its inception. With digitalization, there opens a wide window of fraudulent events.

We see scams going around in the crypto world, misleading SMS, and on more such platforms. These scams can be fatal and may lead to confidential stuff getting leaked.

What better way for these scammers than targetting social media giant Instagram. A lot of people are vulnerable and can easily be targeted.

Similar fraudulent activities are doing rounds on Instagram recently. At present, there are these two traps that users need to be aware of.

Tap to get back into your Instagram account

Texts have been floating on Instagram that prompt users to get back into their accounts which is likely to be a scam.

The text may make it look authentic but the worst is just a tap away. One click, and it can land users into some serious trouble.

Trend Micro Home has sent out a scam alert, particularly for this text-based Instagram scam.

The best way to avoid this is by staying vigilant and not falling into the trap of anything that is third-party.

Even if you have been logged out, or facing any sorts of trouble, it is the Instagram app that will walk you through everything. No texts or calls are sent by Instagram.

Tap to reset Instagram password text 32665

This is yet another scam attempt that comes packed in text messages with a link to reset the Instagram password.

Well, users are getting these Instagram password reset links on both emails and SMS even when they haven’t asked for a change.

I have a feeling someone is trying to hack my
@instagram acct since I keep getting text messages to “click here to reset password” when I never requested such a thing. Why do people do this??

This clearly implies that someone is trying to force users into clicking the fishy links.

Links are the only thing that users need to be cautious of and avoiding them is the best thing to do to save ourselves from falling into the hands of hackers.

There are many such incidents and hacking attempts taking place every day and as scary as it may sound, there’s absolutely one true way to evade them.

Ways to escape scams

It comes down to how alert one is. Therefore, it is always advised to go through the texts properly before committing yourself to them. Check if the source is authentic.

As for Instagram, it will never send text messages. The only way Instagram communicates is by official emails or by sending a notification straight from the app.

Turning on two-factor authentication in Instagram settings can help cut down the chances of getting hacked.

That said, we will keep an eye on more such scams and inform you guys routinely so stay tuned.

05:37 pm (IST): More than two years later, the ‘tap to reset your instagram password’ text message continues to reach some people, trying to steal their accounts.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.