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“They wanted my Instagram handle, and somehow they've now got it.”

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Re: “They wanted my Instagram handle, and somehow they've now got it.”

#51

Post by tialaramex »

Justsignedup wrote: post #24

This is the #1 problem with google/facebook/other giant companies - zero due process. They build a business around minimal human interaction with our staff and it shows when real problems come up. I'm frankly sick of hacker news being a facebook/google/whatever ticketing system. And yet, there's no alternative.

Due Process may not be what you want at all.

The problem is, Due Process means a human - probably paid very little - gets the power to overrule any technical controls. So maybe your account is protected by $$$ A+ security, no chance it can be breached, but oops, the "Due Process" person was just handed $100 cash to override that and allow this random person to become Justsignedup.

So you might actually be better off with a Google situation where the company can't be bothered to hire anybody to be in that role, than a situation where they hire a bunch of minimum wage workers in the cheapest economy with plenty of Internet and don't care about oversight.

Re: “They wanted my Instagram handle, and somehow they've now got it.”

#52

Post by cinntaile »

meepmorp wrote: post #47
rom-antics wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FB's net income for 2022 was $28.83 billion. They could drop that to $28.82 billion and fund a good size customer support team.

Jeff's divorce was expensive, they gotta make it up somehow.

Jeff is at Amazon, not Facebook.

Re: “They wanted my Instagram handle, and somehow they've now got it.”

#53

Post by s-video »

ZantaWB wrote: post #3

The underground marketplace for desirable social media handles (OG Handles) was explored in this excellent episode of Reply All: The Snapchat Thief [1]. In that story the basic technique was a SIM-swapping attack [2]. Fraudster calls the cell provider, claims to be the victim and that they lost their phone. Cell provider then ports the phone identity over to a new SIM. After that the fraudster just resets the account…

Is this how new brands get usernames that would otherwise seem to be claimed long ago?

Re: “They wanted my Instagram handle, and somehow they've now got it.”

#55

Post by criddell »

Justsignedup wrote: post #24

This is the #1 problem with google/facebook/other giant companies - zero due process. They build a business around minimal human interaction with our staff and it shows when real problems come up. I'm frankly sick of hacker news being a facebook/google/whatever ticketing system. And yet, there's no alternative.

Would this be the kind of thing you could go use arbitration for?

Re: “They wanted my Instagram handle, and somehow they've now got it.”

#57

Post by gabereiser »

There’s a black market business being run by Meta employees, selling the ability to take over these accounts from the inside for a price. They then funnel that cash back to family and friends and launder that cash through various other means.

NYT reported about it last year.

Re: “They wanted my Instagram handle, and somehow they've now got it.”

#58

Post by supersour »

gabereiser wrote: post #57

There’s a black market business being run by Meta employees, selling the ability to take over these accounts from the inside for a price. They then funnel that cash back to family and friends and launder that cash through various other means. NYT reported about it last year.

I'd love the link if you have it

Re: “They wanted my Instagram handle, and somehow they've now got it.”

#60

Post by glenstein »

josefresco wrote: post #9

I read this thread, considered sharing here so I'm glad to see it discussed. If you follow the thread he comes to the "conclusion" or suspicion that it was an inside job.

Yeah, a lot of the discussion here is lamenting the lack of any support, but I'm fascinated to know how they possibly could have gained access.

Given the suspicion that it was an inside job, these two different points have something in common, namely an attempt to access the human infrastructure behind the interface. If that suspicion proves true then people compromising accounts are having better luck accessing Instagram's internal levers for account management.

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