Why are there so many Instagram bots? How to tackle to surge in social media scammers

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Instagram users take to social media to air concerns about the Meta platform’s rise in bots.

While there are billions of Instagram users, a majority of them have been noticing a rise in scam accounts that are offering free giveaways in the form of Shein hauls, iPhones and money recently.

The accounts have been tagging users in posts offering free things, and also have been seen in the comment sections of many posts spamming users.

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The issue has always taken place on the app but has increased in recent weeks, leading to frustrations, with one user tweeting: "Is it just me or are there so many bots on Instagram lately like? IDK if my account’s just been unlucky or what but I have been tagged/messaged/follow requested by so many scams/bots in the past week. GIRL leave me alone."

A spokesperson for Meta told Cosmopolitan UK: "We are currently investigating this issue and have already removed a large quantity of accounts for violating our scam policies.”

It’s been reported that Meta has invested a lot of money in trying to tackle the issue including hiring 15,000 moderators but given the fact that millions of people have access to the app, it’s likely that they will always exist in one form or another.

Lucky for us, while they are annoying, for the most part the scammers that are littering our notifications at the moment are pretty easy to identify. From their bizarre usernames like @naughtigirl69 to their lack of followers and posts, as well as their spam like captions.

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So, what should you do if you get tagged in a post like this? Here’s a guide on the best action to take.

How to report bots on Instagram

The scammers will target people via a number of different routes from DM’s to tagged posts. Should you get a notification for a tagged post you can block the person and any account they may make by sliding along on the notification and clicking the three dots, this will give you the option to block.

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If you want to go further you can report the profile that tagged you by going on their profile clicking the three dots in the top right corner of the profile and filing a report from there.

Additionally, you can delete the comment so you don’t need to see it in your notifications. You can also limit who can tag you in content and hide custom words like ‘SHEIN giveaway’.

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