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How Hundreds of Fake Musicians Paid to Get Verified on Instagram

Clients would allegedly pay $25,000 to get those coveted blue checks.

ProPublica just busted what they call the “largest Instagram account verification scheme ever uncovered.” Since at least 2021, hundreds of wannabe influencers—including jewelers and reality show TV stars—have paid five figures to get their Instagram accounts improperly verified as musicians. The clients paid to get phony platforms as musical artists, and then used those platforms to trick Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, into verifying their accounts with that coveted blue checkmark. Meta is now reviewing accounts and has so far removed fraudulent verification badges from more than 300 Instagram profiles. ProPublica estimated that this scheme generated millions of dollars for its operators, and argued that the scheme “illustrates how easily major social, search and music platforms can be exploited to create fake personas with real-world consequences, such as monetizing a verified account."