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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.”

#61

Post by annoyingnoob »

tialaramex wrote: post #51
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…

Ha, they don't even 'hire' those people, they are contractors not employees. Contractors don't get benefits, unemployment, etc. And they can be short-term contracts where you cannot get back-to-back contracts, so constant turn-over.

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

#62

Post by 93po »

I don't know this person but objectively speaking, given the facts of the situation, I would say that it's more likely he sold his account and now wants it back for whatever reason. Maybe they people who bought it grifted him somehow and managed to reverse payment or something else.

I wouldn't accuse someone of lying when I have no basis to, and I'm not. I'm just saying it's the more likely scenario versus some IG employee risking their high paying career to give some nobody someone else's low value IG handle.

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

#63

Post by 0xffff2 »

cypherpunks01 wrote: post #42
hobo_mark wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok sure, but how do you get the person's phone number in the first place?

There are hundreds of data brokers selling this type of info. An attacker who has a few minutes and a few dollars to spare will be able to acquire the average person's phone number. The underlying sources vary a lot. Look up your own name or your friends on a site that is owned by or uses Intelius data, e.g. https://www.addresses.com/ - For many people (not all), their phone numbers come up right away. There are prob…

Maybe I just have better data hygiene than average, but I found that site to be absolutely hilarious. I was able to find myself, but my address was several years and several moves out of date. My phone number was decades out of date and not even really my phone number. (It was a landline phone at my mom's house, with an old pre-area code split area code.)

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

#64

Post by milsorgen »

shagie wrote: post #32
haunter wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but if it was "ghfa", what's the point? You build your brand from the bottom up based on that handle alone. Totally possible and your example is actually pretty good, no weird letters either (x,q,y,z)

From a recent Marketplace article: Liquid Death is an “entertainment machine” with a water brand attached - https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/25/liquid-death-is-an-en... > In 2017, Cessario, a longtime advertising creative who had previously worked on marketing campaigns for Netflix and Organic Valley, released a commercial for Liquid Death canned water. The product didn’t exist yet, but the commercial went viral.…

I have, over a two year period, been rather excitedly told about Liquid Death from the most surprising people. I mention a two year period because I don't recall anything else being presented to me as this new cool thing over such a long time frame. Something about that brand, in my experience, gets people to feel like 'they found something'. It really is quite interesting the reaction people have to it. Now what's also funny is that with one exception these half dozen people are never seen drinking LD later on. I guess I've just never seen such a powerful branding experience with the exception of maybe Gmail or Facebook way back when when they were seen as more exclusive services and people started finding out about them.

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

#67

Post by BaseballPhysics »

93po wrote: post #62

I don't know this person but objectively speaking, given the facts of the situation, I would say that it's more likely he sold his account and now wants it back for whatever reason. Maybe they people who bought it grifted him somehow and managed to reverse payment or something else. I wouldn't accuse someone of lying when I have no basis to, and I'm not. I'm just saying it's the more likely scenario versus some IG em…

> I wouldn't accuse someone of lying when I have no basis to, and I'm not.

Uh, yeah you are.

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

#68

Post by shagie »

milsorgen wrote: post #64
shagie wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a recent Marketplace article: Liquid Death is an “entertainment machine” with a water brand attached - https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/25/liquid-death-is-an-en... > In 2017, Cessario, a longtime advertising creative who had previously worked on marketing campaigns for Netflix and Organic Valley, released a commercial for Liquid Death canned water. The product didn’t exist yet, but the commercial went viral.…

I have, over a two year period, been rather excitedly told about Liquid Death from the most surprising people. I mention a two year period because I don't recall anything else being presented to me as this new cool thing over such a long time frame. Something about that brand, in my experience, gets people to feel like 'they found something'. It really is quite interesting the reaction people have to it. Now what's a…

The interesting thing with them is that it is entirely brand (and they know it).

Ryssdal: Who is your competition then? Because the beverage space — and now the nonalcoholic water space — is populated by ginormous companies. And for as much success you’re having, you ain’t it. Do you worry about the Cokes and the Pepsis, or you’re like, “Yeah, you do your thing and I’m gonna do mine”?

Cessario: We don’t worry about that at all. Because the hardest thing — anybody can put water in a can, right? But that’s not why we’re successful.

Ryssdal: OK, wait, so why are you successful?

Cessario: Because we’ve built a really strong brand that has created legitimate fandom and obsession for the product. And that is something that Coke and Pepsi historically have been really bad at doing, which is why they acquire companies more so than they create viral brands or fandom on their own.

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

#69

Post by kayge »

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…

There are a couple [1][2] of good Darknet Diaries episodes on this topic as well:

[1] https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/97/

[2] https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/106/

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

#70

Post by 93po »

BaseballPhysics wrote: post #67
93po wrote: post #62

I don't know this person but objectively speaking, given the facts of the situation, I would say that it's more likely he sold his account and now wants it back for whatever reason. Maybe they people who bought it grifted him somehow and managed to reverse payment or something else. I wouldn't accuse someone of lying when I have no basis to, and I'm not. I'm just saying it's the more likely scenario versus some IG em…

> I wouldn't accuse someone of lying when I have no basis to, and I'm not. Uh, yeah you are.

I'm just stating likelihoods. I give him the benefit of the doubt. I only mention this to be conversational and to see if anyone else noticed something that might corroborate the theory.

It makes little to no sense that this would be an inside job. It makes a lot of sense that this person just wants their account back after willfully giving it up.

If you had an inside connection to take over an account, why wouldn't you use it on something much much higher profile and with a lot more (i.e. any) profit potential?

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