Scammers demand ransoms from Instagram users over fake copyright claims
Users say they are losing money or risk having their accounts suspended because Meta struggles to identify scammers.
Instagram influencers report losing thousands of pounds as their accounts are suspended or deleted due to false copyright claims. Scammers create fraudulent reports to the Meta-owned platform, demanding ransoms to remove the claims - knowing that continuous claims could lead to account bans. A popular account with over 1.5 million followers revealed that he paid a scammer $50 (£37) to regain access to his account, believing that Meta's appeal process would take weeks and have already caused him significant financial losses.
A Meta spokesperson acknowledged the frustration caused by these incidents and stated that their systems are designed to protect users from this type of attack. However, creators claim that Meta struggles to identify fraudulent cases and has a slow appeals process, which only improves if creators pay a monthly fee. Olly, a content creator who posts historical images on his account, has received numerous fake copyright complaints in 2026.
He often receives multiple claims from the same email address, leading to temporary account suspensions. Meta does not verify the authenticity of these complaints, allowing scammers to repeatedly target accounts. When asked to pay to remove the claim, Olly complied, fearing that the process would take weeks. Nonetheless, he was struck with additional copyright claims shortly after paying.
As a result, his account was demonetized, preventing him from earning money from high-performing posts. Similar experiences have been shared by other Instagram users. Meta has not conducted investigations into the abuse or system detection of potential scams, focusing instead on charging users for support. The BBC contacted Meta with examples from Olly and other account holders, to which Meta responded by applying additional protections to the accounts, preventing similar issues in the future.
The BBC interviewed three individuals who file copyright strikes against Instagram users without being the copyright holders. All of them deny holding accounts to ransom, claiming they file legitimate claims on behalf of copyright holders. However, Olly, who has dealt with these before, argues that these individuals are usually easy to distinguish from legitimate agencies.
These copyright scams are not new, with a version of the crime dating back to the early days of the internet. The recent surge in this method may be attributed to artificial intelligence making it easier to execute on a larger scale.
Written by urgent.news from BBC News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
