14 DAY TRIAL // Fake Instagram accounts that purport to be operated by student loan company Sallie Mae are trying to trick users into handing over their private details by claiming to offer loan forgiveness due to the government shutdown.
Most users are probably aware that the US government shutdown is leveraged by scammers and cybercriminals. Here we have another perfect example.
As Scambook highlights, Sallie Mae is present on social media, but not on Instagram. The scam accounts are simply designed to trick users into giving out their personal information.
Over a dozen scam accounts have been spotted on Instagram. They post messages that read something like this: “Due to national government shutdown, Sallie Mae will be issuing a loan forgiveness to the first 150k followers. Must report and tag us.”
Sallie Mae representatives have told Buzzfeed that student loans are not impacted by the government shutdown. The company has also published a short alert on Facebook to inform customers that they never ask for personal information on social media.