Anyone seen using Instagram automatically becomes dead to me until proven otherwise.
Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme
31–40 of 104 posts
Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme
#32> Meta has so far removed fraudulently applied verification badges from more than 300 Instagram profiles It's not a "Verification Badge", it's a "Famous Person" badge. If you verify someone's identity, John Doe indeed controls the instagram account with his face and name, then I don't see how there could be anything fraudulent about it if it's just a "verification badge". The verification badge is supposed to show wh…
That's the real heart of the issue. It was never a verification badge. It was always a popularity badge. Social media is garbage. We need to find a better way. Obviously having that many eye-balls means business opportunities for the gig-worker economy but this kind of restriction/status symbol is ripe for corruption and fraud by design.
Posting anything authentically promotional on these platforms is mostly a total waste of time... They steer views to foreign countries where no one is likely to buy your music or follow you. Everyone is deceiving everyone on these large platforms now, that why music and many other scams dominate the entire Internet.
These platforms have millions of active accounts, but what they do is only let paid promoted posts trend, and randomly mix in memes from shadow accounts, while artificially capping visibility for everyone else (who doesn't pay for ads) at under 100-400 (low-value views).
Whenever the news gets onto reporting platforms, they switch their algorithm to make it look like things are operating fairly/normally, and then switch back to manipulation after the heat dies down. I'm pretty sure they have more psychologists and marketing specialists on staff than actual musicians and developers in management.
Suspending 300 accounts is like flicking a flea off an infested dog's back.
Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's in a social media company's best interest for its user base to easily find and distinguish between Matt Smith the famous actor and the thousands of other Matt Smiths, especially the ones who might try to fake being the famous Matt Smith for shits and giggles and/or profit. "Verification" is definitely the wrong term for it, but if companies could come up with a different verb that didn't make even more obvious t…
However, doesn't this "IsFamous" label break down when multiple famous people share a name. No obvious example spring to mind, but it surely must happen... Seems like it would be more useful to have some kind of more general labelling system, where you could be 'verified' as (say) a famous actor, and/or musician, or whatever. Then people could distinguish not only the famous Matt Smith from the unfamous, but also the…
The UK actor's union Equity effectively acts as a name registrar to avoid this: https://www.actorsequity.org/join/WhyJoin/name-protection/
That's why https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Walliams spells his name with an A rather than the more normal I.
Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme
#34A crypto bro scammer using a (from a friend) stolen verified account tried to buy mine for 700 via Discord
Cringey stuff
Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme
#35> Meta has so far removed fraudulently applied verification badges from more than 300 Instagram profiles It's not a "Verification Badge", it's a "Famous Person" badge. If you verify someone's identity, John Doe indeed controls the instagram account with his face and name, then I don't see how there could be anything fraudulent about it if it's just a "verification badge". The verification badge is supposed to show wh…
The definition of famous is just too relative. The tag should be considered harmful. Social media platforms should not dictate who is famous or not.
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Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme
#36This looks like a bit similar to various 'vanity publishing' operations in the writing world. These varied quite a bit, there was an era (pre-Internet) when it wasn't uncommon for the up-and-coming corporate executive to hire a writer and publisher to write a glamorous biography and print a few thousand copies, to be handed out to whoever would take them. I suppose today that approach could plausibly provide a 'sourc…
I think there have also been cases where celebrities or politicians have hired fake "fans" (basically actors) to show up to their appearances and make them appear more famous then they actually are.
Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme
#37> Meta has so far removed fraudulently applied verification badges from more than 300 Instagram profiles It's not a "Verification Badge", it's a "Famous Person" badge. If you verify someone's identity, John Doe indeed controls the instagram account with his face and name, then I don't see how there could be anything fraudulent about it if it's just a "verification badge". The verification badge is supposed to show wh…
My partner runs a small brand, which attracted a copycat page clearly designed to scam users out of money for giveaways. She attempted to “get verified” and was denied because there was not enough news stories about the brand. We own the trademark to the brand name, and the verbatim copying of the copycat clearly infringes copyright. The only option we have is to file a trademark dispute through Instagram, but that i…
Generate several cleverly designed scam accounts yourself using burner credentials which eventually redirect to the official entity. Out-scam yourself and the scammers by becoming the flood.
Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme
#38That is so funny and in a nice timing: Tom Cormen just started to beg Twitter to have a verified account:
https://twitter.com/thcormen/status/1564767028375945217
Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme
#39> Meta has so far removed fraudulently applied verification badges from more than 300 Instagram profiles It's not a "Verification Badge", it's a "Famous Person" badge. If you verify someone's identity, John Doe indeed controls the instagram account with his face and name, then I don't see how there could be anything fraudulent about it if it's just a "verification badge". The verification badge is supposed to show wh…
My partner runs a small brand, which attracted a copycat page clearly designed to scam users out of money for giveaways. She attempted to “get verified” and was denied because there was not enough news stories about the brand. We own the trademark to the brand name, and the verbatim copying of the copycat clearly infringes copyright. The only option we have is to file a trademark dispute through Instagram, but that i…
If they're actually infringing your copyright with the copied content then a DMCA takedown should be a more reasonable prospect. Most platforms have highly lubricated paths for that, and you won't need to provide the scammer with more than a contact information for your attorney.
Most likely they won't respond and will just be taken down. They might file a false counternotice but if so you'll get their contact information and shouldn't be worse off than if you'd done nothing.
If you're on the fence because you are concerned that the scammers might retaliate, keep in mind that if you knowingly allow scammers to defraud people under your name when you could do something to stop isn't the most moral choice-- even if its the easiest one.
Then again, I'm currently targeted by a multibillion dollar lawsuit because I called out a scammer in my former industry, so maybe don't take my moralizing at you too seriously. :)
Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme
#40This looks like a bit similar to various 'vanity publishing' operations in the writing world. These varied quite a bit, there was an era (pre-Internet) when it wasn't uncommon for the up-and-coming corporate executive to hire a writer and publisher to write a glamorous biography and print a few thousand copies, to be handed out to whoever would take them. I suppose today that approach could plausibly provide a 'sourc…
I think there have also been cases where celebrities or politicians have hired fake "fans" (basically actors) to show up to their appearances and make them appear more famous then they actually are.
Paparazzi are typically tipped off if not outright paid to show up at the right time.