You do not
have to be a public figure for someone to hack your social network account and attempt
to charm your friends into doing something foolish like financially seeding a
grant proposal. It happened to me and
the odds favor an impostor targeting you regardless of the likely payout.
My experience
with Instagram all but eliminates any expectation that Facebook, Twitter and
others will make any significant effort in customer care. They operate an attractive nuisance that
entices us, sometimes with quite harmful outcomes. The “bricks and mortar” equivalent are outdoor
swimming pools that, without safeguards like fencing, act as a magnet for unsuspecting
kids and childish adults who cannot swim while intoxicated.
Someone
with far too much time to waste found a way to access one or more contacts lists
of mine, outside of Instagram, and then contact people via Instagram masquerading
as me. Some friends noticed the
substandard English and the odd reference to academic grant seeking. Perhaps having gained their trust, the
impostor would hit them up for some sort of financial underwriting.
I am glad
to see that several reported this abuse to Instagram, but they purposefully and
cynically dropped the ball. No one from
Instagram contacted me, not even a bot, or scripted messenger. I still do not know if the impostor continues
to masquerade as me under an account such as rmf21211. For my part, after more effort than it should
take, I found the well hidden form to fill in, presumably to launch an investigation
by Instagram. Facebook/Instagram
requires a jpeg photograph of the victim holding some form of official
identification. I dutifully send a
picture of me holding my passport page containing the required information to
confirm I am the one being hacked.
Instagram
eventually sent me a scripted response stating that they could not start an
investigation in light of the material I sent.
I resent the phot with greater pixel resolution only to receive the same
rejection from the same “person.”
I have now
learned that millions of Instagram subscribers get hacked and follow the
reporting protocol only to have Facebook reject the required picture, or find
some other way to do nothing. Here’s a
link outlining how it is nearly impossible to get Facebook to do something
constructive: https://www.wired.com/2016/01/what-happens-reporting-instagram-accounts/.
Additionally,
I foolishly thought I was corresponding with a real person who rejected my photo. Of course it was a bot: Facebook lacks the
personnel and commitment to employ enough people to resolve hacks and
impersonations. The surely have the
financial resources, but consciously opt out.
Why? Because Facebook management knows that most
people will deal with the inconvenience and return to the fold quickly. That probably would not happen if you got
food poisoning at a bricks and mortar restaurant. You would call and complain to a person. You would post critical comments on web
sites. You would never return to that restaurant.
In the
world of social networking sites, Facebook has won the “winner take all” sweepstakes. They do not have to commit sufficient
resources to customer care. They can
program bots to reject complaints, particularly for someone like me who shut
down his account.
It was easy
for me to throw in the Instagram towel.
I will miss the cute pictures of pets and the beautiful pictures of
bread, etc. However, I do not have years
of pictures posted and fond memories associated with Instagram posts.
Lucky me.