Scam Secrets - The Instagram Takeover Scam

An old friend is posting about how well his investments are doing - and he's offering you the chance to get involved too. Would you know what to do?

In this final episode of the series, the Scam Secrets team unpick a fraud which ripped through a group of close mates. One by one, their Instagram accounts were infiltrated as, believing they were chatting to a friend, they handed over their login details, hoping to join a crypto investment scheme. But that gave the criminals all they needed to take over the account and use it as a platform to try the same trick on all their followers.

It's a modern day pyramid scheme that plays on the victims' desire to make money and their trust in their friends.

Scam Secrets will be back later in the year. In the meantime, you can contact the team at scamsecrets@bbc.co.uk.

PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL

PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY

Published on Thursday, 4th June 2026.

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