HELP! ACCOUNT RECEIVING FAKE FOLLOWERS!

[Jessica8789]

For almost 24 hours my account has been receiving hundreds of obviously fake followers.

This is either somebody attempting to sabotage my account or related to my perusal of thrd part Apps yesterday to find one to monitor my analytics.

Does anyone have any idea how I can stop this (other than going Private and approving every request to follow which I am presently doing and which is damaging the growth of the account and also taking up huge amount of time)

I changed my password immediately and deleted all downloaded apps, but this is not making any difference

 

[IG Pro]

For almost 24 hours my account has been receiving hundreds of obviously fake followers.

This is either somebody attempting to sabotage my account or related to my perusal of thrd part Apps yesterday to find one to monitor my analytics.

Does anyone have any idea how I can stop this (other than going Private and approving every request to follow which I am presently doing and which is damaging the growth of the account and also taking up huge amount of time)

I changed my password immediately and deleted all downloaded apps, but this is not making any difference

Unfortunately there is not lot of ways how to defeat this kind of attack.

Firstly i would recommend you to get rid of the all 3rd part apps (if is it some kind of, getting likes, followers, engagement...), if the 3rd part app are something like picture editor, post downloader from instagram. You can let them stay in your phone (if you didn't have to use your Instagram login information, then delete them).


For now i'd suggest you to go private, and slowly get rid of the fake followers you've received.

If you are going to do it fast (removing fake accs), instagram could “think” that your profile is dying, and your instagram trust score would decrease (meaning less engagement, reach etc...).

Calculate how many real followers per day you get, then take that number and remove with it all the fake accounts (repeat this untill you get rid of all bots).

After you remove all the fake profiles, wait till the sender get annoyed your defense and set your profile public once again.

 

[Jessica8789]

Unfortunately there is not lot of ways how to defeat this kind of attack.

Firstly i would recommend you to get rid of the all 3rd part apps (if is it some kind of, getting likes, followers, engagement...), if the 3rd part app are something like picture editor, post downloader from instagram. You can let them stay in your phone (if you didn't have to use your Instagram login information, then delete them).


For now i'd suggest you to go private, and slowly get rid of the fake followers you've received.

If you are going to do it fast (removing fake accs), instagram could “think” that your profile is dying, and your instagram trust score would decrease (meaning less engagement, reach etc...).

Calculate how many real followers per day you get, then take that number and remove with it all the fake accounts (repeat this untill you get rid of all bots).

After you remove all the fake profiles, wait till the sender get annoyed your defense and set your profile public once again.

Thank you so very much for your detailed reply!!

If I have gone Private and followers are now having to request to follow me, can I not simply decline those requests as they’re received? Or would that be seen as me “getting rid of the fake followers” which contributes towards Instagram thinking my account is “dying?”

I have already changed the password and removed all third-party apps. It’s so incredibly frustrating that we can’t do anything about this but I very much appreciate your helpful words of advice

 

[IG Pro]

can I not simply decline those requests as they’re received?

Didn't get the question.

Did you think this? You are (your account) not going to be seen as a “dying” account if you don't accept the bot follow actions.

I have already changed the password and removed all third-party apps. It’s so incredibly frustrating that we can’t do anything about this but I very much appreciate your helpful words of advice

I see, totaly agree with you. Instagram could come up with something to avoid this.

 

[Jessica8789]

Didn't get the question.

Did you think this? You are (your account) not going to be seen as a “dying” account if you don't accept the bot follow actions.

Sorry not to have been clear!
Yes, I was hoping that by not accepting the follow requests (rather than me being Public and deleting the fake followers) then Instagram would NOTregard my account as “dying“. Do you think that’s correct?

 

[Makk of All Trades]

(other than going Private and approving every request to follow which I am presently doing and which is damaging the growth of the account and also taking up huge amount of time)

Would you rather use a bit of your time and approve genuine profiles for a couple of days or let fake followers kill your engagement? Choice is simple. Only way to stop this is by making your profile private for some days.

 

[Jessica8789]

Didn't get the question.

I see, totaly agree with you. Instagram could come up with something to avoid this.

Typical “hands-off” approach of IG huh?!

 

[Jessica8789]

Would you rather use a bit of your time and approve genuine profiles for a couple of days or let fake followers kill your engagement? Choice is simple. Only way to stop this is by making your profile private for some days.

Thanks. I did that immediately but we get a lot of attention - 3 days ago we were featured in a very popular magazine and this weekend we are supposed to be in national newspapers, so it is going to hurt engagement and undermine our credibility if we are in private mode right now.

I also wondered If there was any other way to remedy this. E.g. by finding out which apps are accessing my account but not using the official API (which I believe means they won’t appear in the IG list of Authotised Apps).
I’m pretty sure it’s not possible but just wanted to double check because it seems completely ridiculous that we're left so vulnerable to these attacks and so helpless

 

[Makk of All Trades]

Thanks. I did that immediately but we get a lot of attention - 3 days ago we were featured in a very popular magazine and this weekend we are supposed to be in national newspapers, so it is going to hurt engagement and undermine our credibility if we are in private mode right now.

I also wondered If there was any other way to remedy this. E.g. by finding out which apps are accessing my account but not using the official API (which I believe means they won’t appear in the IG list of Authotised Apps).
I’m pretty sure it’s not possible but just wanted to double check because it seems completely ridiculous that we're left so vulnerable to these attacks and so helpless

You've taken all the right steps. In addition activate 2FA as well to keep your account secure.

 

[Deleted member 1260801]

This is a real problem, I thought a long time ago what if you get banned? How can you prove that you are not the person you bottet them. A dilemma..

 

[Jessica8789]

You've taken all the right steps. In addition activate 2FA as well to keep your account secure.

Thanks so much At least it’s reassuring to know I’m (seemingly) not missing anything here, remedy wise
The really frustrating thing is that I activated 2FA a long time ago

This is a real problem, I thought a long time ago what if you get banned? How can you prove that you are not the person you bottet them. A dilemma..

Exactly! It’s a really horrible position to be in!