For content creators across Latin America and the diaspora, Instagram is more than a social network—it's a livelihood. But a new scam is turning that livelihood upside down, not by stealing passwords, but by weaponizing the platform's copyright system. Fraudsters are flooding accounts with fake copyright strikes, triggering automatic suspensions that can wipe out months of work and income.
The scheme is deceptively simple. Scammers send multiple copyright complaints from a single email address, often targeting accounts with large followings. Instagram's automated systems, designed to protect intellectual property, respond by suspending the account. The victim is then contacted—usually moved to Telegram or WhatsApp—and told that the strikes can be removed for a fee, often in cryptocurrency.
One of the most prominent victims is the history page Lost in Time History, which boasts over 1.5 million followers. Its creator, known as Olly, watched helplessly as his account was suspended after accumulating a series of fraudulent strikes. With Meta's support taking weeks to respond, Olly paid $50 in Bitcoin as a last resort. It didn't work. The strikes resumed immediately, and he lost thousands in advertising revenue and brand deals in the meantime.
Abin Tom Sebastian, who runs the page Morbid Kuriosity, faced a similar ordeal. He lost crucial brand partnerships that he says are now unrecoverable. "It's not just about the money," he told investigators. "It's the trust and the momentum you've built with your audience and sponsors."
How the scam works and who's behind it
Investigations by the BBC and independent researchers have traced the scam to organized groups operating from India and neighboring regions. They demand anywhere from $100 to $900 to lift the fake claims, cynically framing the payments as "service fees." The operation is a numbers game, says Andres Guadamuz, an intellectual property expert at the University of Sussex. "Modern automation makes it easy to mass-produce these complaints," he explains. "It's a low-risk, high-reward crime."
The scam has hit creators across the Americas, including many in México, Colombia, and Argentina, where Instagram is a primary platform for artists, musicians, and small business owners. For them, a suspension isn't just an inconvenience—it's a financial emergency.
Meta, Instagram's parent company, has acknowledged the issue after media pressure and has begun restoring some affected accounts. But the company's response has been slow, and many creators are left in limbo for weeks. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recommends that creators establish direct communication channels with Meta's support teams to reverse unfair penalties before reputational damage becomes permanent.
In the meantime, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued guidelines for reporting digital extortion schemes. Creators are urged to document all communications, save screenshots of the fraudulent strikes, and report the incident to local authorities and the FTC. Some have also found success by reaching out to Meta through its recently announced settlement regarding teen safety, which has prompted the company to improve its moderation systems.
For those who rely on Instagram for their income, the advice is clear: enable two-factor authentication, keep a backup of your content, and be wary of any message that asks for payment to resolve a copyright claim. As one creator put it, "If someone asks for crypto to unblock your account, it's a scam. Period."
This scam is part of a broader wave of digital extortion targeting social media users. Similar schemes have been reported on other platforms, and experts warn that they will only become more sophisticated. For now, the best defense is awareness and a healthy dose of skepticism.
