Hijacking of UK social accounts up 400%

This is a warning to secure down your socials with two step authentication where possible or preferably passkeys. Make scammers life difficult and they are more likely to target less protected accounts.

Whilst we at The Scam Hound would like to stop scammers in their tracks, we appreciate we have to take baby steps and we need to start with protecting our users first.

Fraudsters are stealing accounts in many cases to sell fake event tickets to sold out gigs, this means your unsuspecting family and friends are targeted through your socials.

Many of these scams are left unreported, which means when the official statistics state 400% rise: 2024 – 2025, £1.2 million was stolen via email and social fraud, this jumps steeply to £6.3 million during the 2025-2026 financial year according to Report Fraud.

The Guardian reported an Instagram account where scammers took £1400 from a victims family and friends as they used her identity to sell Oasis tickets. We suggest "don't look back in anger" protect those accounts. A few months ago we highlighting the trend of fraud with fake festival and concert tickets at it's peak during the summer months, but this fraud uses our contacts to create trust.

Cheif Supt Amanda Wolf, head of Report Fraud operations stated what starts with one compromised account “can quickly impact family, friends and colleagues as fraudsters exploit trusted relationships to commit further fraud”.

Report Fraud is launching an awareness campaign urging the public to protect their online accounts from hackers by switching to passkeys where they are available. A passkey uses an individual’s device and biometrics to authenticate them and cannot be hacked like a password.

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