Scared of falling for Instagram Cash App scams? Continue reading to find out what to expect from a scammer and what to do in case you get tricked.
But how, exactly?
Yes, there are Cash App Scams on Instagram. Cash App scammers on Instagram will request a small amount of money from users in order to validate their accounts and receive a cash prize. They may even ask for sensitive information such as SSNs/ PINs. Either way, they’ll take the money and disappear.
Still, how do these scammers even find their victims? Moreover, what can you do to protect yourself from them?
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How Do Cash App Scammers Find Their Victims?
Believe it or not, it’s not that hard for a fraudster to find a potential victim on Instagram. Why’s that, you ask? Well, because many Cash App users publicly share their $cashtag on the official Cash App Instagram page.
As you probably know, Cash App has weekly cash giveaways and prizes such as #CashAppFriday and #SuperCashAppFriday. Hoping to win, users post their $cashtags on Cash App’s Instagram.
Since a $cashtag basically functions as the user’s Cash App ID, all scammers have to do is browse the Cash App posts and select a few unfortunate users.
Once a scammer selects his victims, he’ll simply communicate with them and lay the groundwork for his scam until the victims unwittingly send him money or share with him sensitive information.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to just Instagram. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms are all subject to these scams, with slight differences in how the scammer goes about it.
Examples of Popular Instagram Cash App Scams
There are plenty of ways scammers can use Instagram to trick their victims, the most famous of which is the #CashAppFriday fake giveaways.
Basically, what happens is the scammer impersonates Cash App by using a false $cashtag along the lines of $cashfridayoffical.
When they contact you, they’ll tell you that you’ve won the cash prize and explain that to access the award, you need to put in a small deposit or send what’s known as a “clearance fee“.
Once you’ve sent them the money, they block you, leaving you waiting for money that’ll never arrive.
And it’s not just the money they can ask for. They may ask you to share your personal ID or bank account information or other sensitive information they can use in criminal activities. All they have to do is trick you by saying they need your “so and so” to validate your identity and send you your prize.
By the way, they don’t have to mention #CashAppFriday or any cash giveaways for that matter. They can simply say that they’ll flip your money, aka transform a small sum into a large sum for a small commission. Once you entrust them with your money, they stop contacting you or responding to your messages.
To entice you to start dealing with them, they may post a couple of photos on Instagram where people are holding wads of cash and standing in front of expensive-looking cars.
The images will, of course, be captioned something like “turn $10 into $100″ or ” get $1000 from $100 ”. Accordingly, desperate users will entrust their money to these scammers, and the scammer will leave them high and dry.
To give you another example of Instagram Cash App scams, scammers will contact users and tell them to have a minimum of $25 in their bank or Cash App account.
They then show screenshots of conversations they had with other people, perhaps thanking them for their easy money or perhaps confirming that they have a way of altering the money transactions on Cash App. Whatever it is, these conversations are either photoshopped or between multiple accounts that the scammer has.
So, when the innocent user invests his money, hoping against all hope that the scammer will somehow beat the system and get a hold of way more money, the scammer will simply take the money and disappear off the face of the earth.
How to Avoid Being Scammed on Cash App?
As you can see, scammers can come up with many ways to utilize Instagram to hoodwink various Cash App users. The trick to protecting your money lies in knowing when you’re being scammed and avoiding the fraudster.
Moreover, you can protect yourself by knowing that you should never disclose your sensitive information online, be it through Cash App, Instagram, or any other platform. You should also never send money in return for a reward or prize.
Furthermore, avoid communicating with strangers who promise you cash prizes. In fact, it’s best you restrict who can request money from you to “Contacts Only.” However, if you do accidentally contact one, you should avoid pressing any links they send you in text and emails or downloading any apps.
Also, keep in mind that no official account of Cash App will even ask you to send them money. And finally, remember, if it’s too good to be true, then it’s probably not true.
What Can You Do If You Get Scammed?
Unfortunately, not much. All you can do is report the incident to Cash App Support and hope for the best.
It also goes without saying that any PIN or password you’ve shared with the scammer needs to be changed as soon as possible to avoid further damage.
Whenever there’s money involved, scammers have a way of making themselves known, and that’s no exception when it comes to Cash App.
And of course, with Instagram being so popular amongst all generations, Cash App scammers use it to their full advantage.
Conclusion
Scammers can use Instagram to deceive Cash App users in various ways, whether that’s by impersonating Cash App itself or promising users to flip their money one way or another.
So, don’t believe anyone who requests money or sensitive information from you and report any account that tries to trick you.
As the saying goes, if it is too good to be true, it probably is. So, make sure to do some homework and investigation before sharing any sensitive information let alone bank and financial info to anyone, more so strangers on the internet claiming to give you free or double your money.
