What are the 'banning contract services' rampant on Instagram?
On August 5, 2021, IT news site Motherboard reported that 'a group of scammers is operating on Instagram, accepting money to unfairly freeze other people's accounts and then offering to restore the accounts to the victims for a fee.' The group is said to be able to freely freeze or restore targeted accounts by exploiting Instagram's system, which detects suicide, self-harm, and impersonation.
Scammers Will Ban Anyone From Instagram For $60
According to Motherboard, the underground internet forum OG Users has an ad for a ban contractor that advertises, 'My friends and I provide the best ban service in the world. We've been ban professionals since 2020 and have a top-class track record.'
'Banning is almost a full-time job,' a ban contractor named War (pseudonym) told Motherboard, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He claims that he makes $60 per account suspension and tens of thousands of dollars a month by selling his banning services on Instagram.
War said he doesn't know why people use his service, but that they are 'clearly wealthy individuals.' 'Maybe they're an ex-boyfriend of a target, maybe they have a grudge against a target, maybe they're ruining an Instagrammer's business and then getting paid by someone else,' he said.
War said he files false impersonation complaints on Instagram and has the targeted user accounts frozen. He explains how he does this by saying, 'First, I get a verified Instagram account and make that account's profile look just like my target. Then, I report the target for impersonation, and they get removed from Instagram.'
Some ban contractors use methods other than impersonation. Flanvel, who has been a victim of a ban service on Instagram, had his account suspended for a false report of self-harm. Of the two screenshots submitted to Instagram as evidence of Flanvel's self-harm, one was taken by the contractor and sent to Flanvel, and the other was published on the contractor's own Instagram account.
'They can ban accounts at will,' Flanvel told Motherboard. He said that these attacks involve mass reporting using scripts. For example, one script Motherboard found in its own investigation had a function that automatically stopped reporting after 40 reports, so as not to hit Instagram's reporting limit. In addition, a freelance recruitment site once had a job advertisement for a bot developer who would mass report Instagram accounts.
According to Flanvel, victims of ban attacks sometimes receive messages offering paid account recovery, and there have been cases where ban contractors and account recovery service providers follow each other on Instagram.
In response to Motherboard's inquiry, Instagram said, 'We are investigating sites that offer banning services and are working to remove anyone who violates these guidelines from Instagram. We encourage users to report this behavior if they suspect it, and we are directing people whose accounts have been suspended to our support page to help them get their accounts restored.'
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