They warn of a new scam on Instagram: do not open this private message

Instagram in particular and social networks in general are increasingly used by friends of other people's affairs who on many occasions find here a good breeding ground to obtain other people's data. Although until recently it was a WhatsApp message in which a person pretended to be a relative of the person receiving it to try to get them to give them money to be able to catch a flight, now it is Instagram where the Police are focusing to warn of a new scam that we must spread the word as much as possible to prevent fraud from occurring.

The mechanism in this scam, as in all of them, is quite simple. A user sends us a message similar to the following: “I'm trying to log in to my old Instagram account but it won't let me so they told me to write to any Instagram user to help me get a link to log in, could you help me?”. The person pretends to be a friend of the recipient but is not. Then he sends you a fraudulent link.

Changes on Instagram

Recently, Instagram has launched a functionality similar to that which characterizes BeRealthe ability to take a photo from different perspectives, with the selfie camera and the rear camera.

This is Instagram Dual, available in the Stories section, which is located after the 'Create', 'Boomerang', 'Design' and 'Hands-free' options. Unlike BeReal, which only allows you to take photographs, Instagram offers the possibility of creating videos with this feature.

Likewise, this social network, owned by Meta, does have different filters and editing alternatives for its 'stories', something that BeReal lacks.

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BeReal has become one of the social networks of the moment for the so-called Generation Z in Spain and in an alternative to instagramwith a proposal that is far from this platform and offers a notification system that Notify users to post a daily image.

Since its launch in December 2019, this French application has risen in popularity in the last year and accumulated more than a million downloads in the Play Store, being the most downloaded social network currently within the iOS App Store.

So much so that the number of active monthly users of the 'app', which is freehas soared 350 percent year-over-year, according to data collected by Apptopia and published in early April.

By markets, Spain ranked fourth in the number of downloads in mid-May, according to Data.Ai. By user profile, Generation Z is the main protagonist, especially in countries like Australia, Brazil and France. There, 80 percent of iOS device users are between 16 and 24 years old.

After downloading the application, it suggests users import and synchronize contacts that already have a user in it to start creating their community. Additionally, they can be searched by copying their profile URL or adding their corresponding usernames in the Search Engine.

Improvisation reigns

The proposal of BeReal distances this 'app' from the rest of social networks, like Instagram. To do this, it forces its users to improvise and stop looking for the perfect frame in their publications, to encourage improvisation.

Every day, all BeReal users receive a notification at the same time at a random time, which varies throughout the week. Once you receive the notice, the app gives you two minutes to take a photo from two perspectives at the same time: that of the rear and front lens of the smartphone.

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The user can repeat the photo an unlimited number of times within that two-minute period but, once published, the image can only be deleted and repeated once. Furthermore, the 'app' does not have filters or other editing mechanisms, unlike other applications of this type.

That way, only one photo can be uploaded per day and, if the user does not do so within two minutes of receiving this notification, they can post an image later. However, its entire user base receives the notice at the same time, so any subsequent publication is outside the dynamics of BeReal.

The photograph posted by the user is displayed in their 'feed' for the next 24 hours, that you can receive comments and reactions with a 'selfie' called RealMoji, which disappears after that time limit.

'My Memories' Library

Likewise, all images are stored in the library of images called 'My Memories', to which only the users themselves have access and where they are registered monthly. In this way, on the last day of the month you can continue viewing the image uploaded on day 1.

To see the photographs shared by other contacts in the 'app', users must previously upload a photo of themselves. If they do not do so, they cannot view the images of the rest of the users until 24 hours after prior notification.

These photographs are arranged in two sections. The first of them is 'My Friends', where images of contacts are displayed. Next to this is 'Discovery' ('Discover') in which you can also view other users' photos.

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In this sense, it is worth remembering that, when uploading the daily image, users will be able to choose whether they want to share it with their contacts exclusively or in the 'Discovery' section, visible to the rest of BeReal users.