Trying to earn money through affiliate programs, cyberscammers are using fake Instagram profiles to lure users to adult sites.

Symantec researchers noticed in November that an influx in fake profiles containing photographs stolen from legitimate profiles were being used to get the attention of real users through unsolicited likes and follows. Some of the fake accounts showed women in lingerie or censored nude pictures to lure users into clicking on links to porn sites.

The links would either direct a user to a page serving as an intermediary of the actual adult sites or to the adult website and include the affiliate ID.

Researchers called the scam unique because the fake profiles aren't bots and won't converse with users through the Instagram Direct feature.

Source: SCMagazine