Hacker Schemes You Need to Know

Alrighty, I figured I would touch on another hot topic right now on social media.

The asshole hackers.

I've been seeing TONS of artists and large art accounts being targeted by hackers--and sadly winning. I really can't believe that people are falling to the OBVIOUS schemes of these hackers, but again--I'm not one to judge. I can only say that it just perplexes me. At any rate, I'm going to go down the list of what hackers have been doing as of late. This is in no way all their BS, but it does cover quite a bit.

The "Hey! I Need Your Help With Something!"

This is the one that I originally came across myself. Hackers have been sending DMs to even low follower accounts with a bullshit ploy about help. What this is, is that they send you a link that is "supposed" to help them with accessing their "account." If you engage with the hacker, they'll lay on the desperation and try and gaslight you (yes, I fuck you not).

If your instincts tell you that something is amiss--there is a good chance that you're correct. Anyone that is that willing to give you their credentials to log into an account is either stupid or a hacker, and that's usually a good indication that you're dealing with one.

If you receive a link to "help" them, DO NOT CLICK ON THAT LINK. That link will most likely take you to a false sign in, signing over your account.

The "Hey! Will You Vote For Me!"

This one is what got our friend @hexx0rcism hacked. The hacker approached him with a bullshit ploy about voting for them in some art contest. The drawback with this scheme is that it sounds more believable, and considering we are artists that support each other--you may fall victim to his rather easy.

Well, I'm here to tell you...don't. The same person who hacked him sent me a message and tried to ask me to "vote" for them. I, of course, called them out on their BS and they became incredibly hostile, BUT, and this was the give (even though I knew they were fake), they sent the link, anyway. After they sent the link, they were nice again and said, "just click on this link and you'll cast your vote."

B L O C K.

The "Will You Subscribe To Me?"

I think this is the most obvious scam, but this, too, has been a very effective way to hack accounts. I've noticed that horny males (no offense, fam, just saying) have been the ones that have fallen victim to this.

The hacker pretends to be a very attractive woman and will entice you with nude photos--whose photos those are, I can only imagine, but guess what, CATFISH!

Also, no, she's not real, and if you click on the link in "her" bio or in the DM, you're receive a cute message from Instagram that says "you've been logged out." So, please, my fellas, don't do this.

Point blank, you should NEVER EVER under any circumstance click on any link that is sent to you from an unknown source. If you've done a bit of research, you probably can identify legitimate links. I had a link sent to me by an account that I believe wasn't hacked, but I still was very apprehensive about what was sent.

I'm not saying don't ever click on any links ever again, but take major precautions in everything that you do. I would also suggest that you all TURN ON two-factor authentication. This is a MAJOR game changer and will protect your account. If you're double-paranoid like me, you'll also go ahead and turn on the authenticator app login as well. Now, I have one for my email because as we all know (y'all better), your email is the key to most logins. An authenticator app protects you at the source and prevents you from being hacked.

So, do yourself a favor...BE CAUTIOUS!