The raffle of prizes from the social network Instagram scam (fake) - Free Guide

What is The raffle of prizes from the social network Instagram scam?

“The raffle of prizes from the social network Instagram” scam page seeks to lure out personal data

Instagram is used by crooks to trick innocent users

“The raffle of prizes from the social network Instagram” is a scam created by crooks. Instagram is in no way associated with this fraudulent campaign. It is a fake giveaway where people are led to believe they can win money, computers, and phones. The full message reads as follows:

Participation in the drawing
More than 100 units of computer and mobile equipment, as well as 50 cash prizes ranging from 50 to 5000 US dollars

All you have to do is open the correct gift box.

You have 3 tries, good luck!

* You can only take part in the promotion once

The raffle of prizes from the social network Instagram!

Congratulations and good luck!

Users are instructed to pick a gift box for a chance to win. The main purpose of the scam is to lure out users' personal information. People may have to enter their name, address, email, phone number, and passwords. The information can later be sold to third parties and used for malicious purposes.

Crooks may also ask to pay for shipping, transactions, etc. Sometimes dubious payment gateways can be used to steal people's credit card information. This can lead to privacy issues, identity theft,^[1] and financial losses. We recommend reading our guide fully to learn how to deal with the threat.

Distribution methods

Scam pages are rarely found in the search results. Most times, crooks hide them on other shady sites that are unregulated. For example, pages that engage in illegal activities are full of deceptive ads and sneaky redirects. That is why it is best to only visit websites that you know and trust.

Do not believe everything you see. If it is too good to be true – it probably is. Big companies like Instagram do not do random giveaways on the web. Although using a well-known company's name makes the competition look more legitimate. We previously wrote about other similar scams, like “Chance To Win The New iPad Pro” and “You’ve made the 16.39-billionth search!”

In some cases, sites like “The raffle of prizes from the social network Instagram” can appear automatically without any user input. This can happen if there is adware^[2] infection. It is advertising-supported software that can cause an increased amount of commercial content, like pop-ups, banners, and redirects.

People who stumble upon scam sites usually do not abide by standard security practices

Take immediate action if you fell for a scam

The most important thing to do if you gave away your login details is to change your passwords as soon as possible. If you do it quickly, there may be a chance that cybercriminals will not have enough time to do any damage. If you think you entered your bank account information into an unsafe site – contact your bank and explain what happened. You may be able to cancel your card before fraudsters get to it.

Fix your browser

After an encounter with a scam page, you should take care of your browser. Follow the guide below:

Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

1. Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
2. In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all the suspicious plugins that might be related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.

Cookies^[3] are small text files that can track your browsing activity and store information, like your IP address, geolocation, websites you visit, links you click on, and things you purchase. This data is normally used to personalize the user experience but crooks use it to make a profit. They can be sold to advertising networks and other third parties.

They can even be hijacked, and used for malicious purposes, that is why security experts recommend clearing them regularly. This process can be made easy with a maintenance tool like FortectIntego. Besides, this powerful software can fix various system errors, corrupted files, and registry issues which is especially helpful after a virus infection.

Otherwise, you can follow the step-by-step instructions below.

Clear cache and web data:

1. Click on Menu and pick Settings.
2. Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
3. Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
4. Click Clear data.

Reset Google Chrome:

If the previous methods did not help you, reset Google Chrome to eliminate all the unwanted components:

1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
2. In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
3. Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
4. Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
5. Confirm with Reset settings.

Check your system for adware

If you have performed all the previous steps but you still experience unwanted symptoms, you might have a PUP (potentially unwanted program)^[4] installed in your system that is generating ads in the background without your consent. Such programs are known as adware, and usually, they sneak into the system from freeware distribution platforms.

If you are unsure, that your system is completely safe and you still experience unwanted symptoms, you should use anti-malware tools like SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner or Malwarebytes or other trusted ones and scan your system. Security software can also prevent such infections in the future by giving you a warning about suspicious programs. If you want to try it yourself, follow the instructions for Windows and macOS:

Windows 10/8:

1. Enter Control Panel into Windows search box and hit Enter or click on the search result.
2. Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.
3. From the list, find the entry of the suspicious program.
4. Right-click on the application and select Uninstall.
5. If User Account Control shows up, click Yes.
6. Wait till uninstallation process is complete and click OK.

Windows 7/XP:

1. Click on Windows Start > Control Panel located on the right pane (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
2. In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.
3. Pick the unwanted application by clicking on it once.
4. At the top, click Uninstall/Change.
5. In the confirmation prompt, pick Yes.
6. Click OK once the removal process is finished.

Mac:

1. From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
2. In the Applications folder, look for all related entries.
3. Click on the app and drag it to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash)

To fully remove an unwanted app, you need to access Application Support, LaunchAgents, and LaunchDaemons folders and delete relevant files:

1. Select Go > Go to Folder.
2. Enter /Library/Application Support and click Go or press Enter.
3. In the Application Support folder, look for any dubious entries and then delete them.
4. Now enter /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders the same way and terminate all the related .plist files.