Fraudsters using Instagram to sell counterfeit cash and fake ID

INSTAGRAM has allowed fraudsters to use its social media platform to promote and sell counterfeit money, fake passports and ID documents, an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found.

Dozens of criminals posting on Instagram are openly claiming to offer counterfeit UK and US notes for as little as a tenth of their face value, and ID documents for £1,500 to £3,000.

They all use the end-to-end encrypted WhatsApp messaging service for communications in order to evade law enforcement agencies. Both platforms are owned by Facebook.

Users who dip into the sites are also directed to other similar illegal posts through Instagram’s algorithms, which campaigners claim means the platform is “aiding criminality”.

Some of the posts claim to be sophisticated operations enabling a “customer” to create a new identity with a stolen or fake passport or ID document. Others, however, appear to be scams.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said some fake money sites were often a straight fraud where anyone who sent money would “receive nothing or just sheets of blank paper”.

“They are then technically victims of fraud but since what they are attempting to purchase is illegal, they are unable to report the matter to the police,” said an NCA spokesman.

Damian Collins, the chairman of the Commons culture committee, said it had yet again taken an independent investigation to expose a flagrant practice that should have been spotted and blocked by Instagram. “The concerning issue is not just that they are not acting against this criminal content but algorithms are directing people who engage with it to do even more of it. Instagram is aiding this criminal activity,” said Mr Collins.

After being alerted to the posts, Instagram said it had removed them as such fraudulent activity breaches its community rules.

“We continue to proactively fight against bad content with sophisticated detection and blocking systems and encourage anyone who comes across content like this to report it using our in-app tools,” said a spokesman.

The posts were uncovered by Eric Feinberg, of the Global Intellectual Property Enforcement Centre, who has developed a technology that can detect illegal activity on social media.

Mr Feinberg said: “These posts are not up for a few days, but for weeks, months or even a year.”

The NCA urged people to report counterfeit currency complaints to the police and fraud allegations to Action Fraud.

‘Since what they are attempting to buy is illegal, they are unable to report the matter to the police’