Overview
The victim expects to avoid losing their platform account due to a supposed violation of the rules, such as a report of copyright infringement.
How It Works
The scammer, impersonating some gaming service, social media platform, or internet service, contacts the victim and says that they have been reported for copyright infringement or some other violation of the terms of service.
The victim is then supposed to click a link to get more information or to dispute the accusation. The link leads to a phishing page that will install malware or steal the victim's account credentials or other information.
In some versions of the scam common on gaming platforms, the scammer contacts the victim, usually via app messaging, and says they accidentally reported the victim for a platform violation. The scammer suggests that the victim can speak to a representative to dispute the accusation. The scammer, impersonating a representative of the platform, will instruct the victim to do a number of things to "prove" they own the account in question, including performing different security-related operations, giving account credentials to the "representative", or purchasing gift cards from the platform.
Related Articles
Copyright Infringement Scams: All You Need to Know, Compass IT. Covers businesses but strategies are same for individuals.
Related Scams
2.2.9 Podcast Or Remote Interview Scam: Both scams can be used for social media account theft.
Related Crime Schemes
A particular instance of this scam may embed one or more of these related schemes.
Data Loss or Theft: Any scheme that results in victim losing data/scammer stealing data. Data in this context can mean login credentials, credit card details, or other personal or corporate information.
Extortion: Extortion refers to any scheme that uses a threat of additional damage to extract payment from the victim.
Fraudulent Platform: Any scheme that relies on custom built software that assists the crime. Includes fraudulent trading platforms, fraudulent clickworking platforms, and the like.
Victim Targeting Context
The scammer may use one or more of the following techniques to reach the victim.
Spray and Pray / Scattered: The scammer approaches many victims at once such as through bulk email or SMS.
Social Engineering: Psychological Manipulations
The scammer may use one or more of these psychological techniques to accomplish the scam.
Authority: The scammer employs an abuse of a position of authority to convince the victim to go along with the scam.
Threats: The scammer employs threats to increase fear in the victim so that they will go along with the scam. Threats can include financial loss, legal action, arrest, account closure, extortion, blackmail.
Urgency: The scammer employs urgency to increase the likelihood that the victim will take action.
Social Engineering: Impersonation Techniques
The scammer may impersonate one or more of the following groups as part of the scam.
Business or NonProfit: The perpetrator impersonates a business or nonprofit.
Technical Support / Tech: The scammer impersonates a technical support worker or tech company.