Sexbot (sex robot) started monitoring the Instagram Stories of users whose profiles were not private. Beware of being fooled by usernames and sexy photos, sexbots can actually be the beginning of a threat to the security of your personal data. A sexbot is a sex-designed robot or spam program that masquerades as a real person.
Previously, sexbots were only observed to act via likes in feed uploads. Now, sexbot is getting more active by writing naughty comments to likes on IG Stories with the aim of luring users to open their profiles further.
When a user is interested in opening a sexbot account bio, usually a url will be displayed in the bio that connects the user to a website. The website, of course, presents interesting posts such as 'there is a sexy photo sent for you' and so on. So, once the user is stuck clicking on the link, the website will ask for approval to access personal data.
Personal data that can be retrieved is e-mail and telephone numbers, it does not rule out other permissions that are more sensitive, such as location to media access as well as cameras. Therefore, it is recommended to lock the account, aka turning the account into a private account, to avoid sexbots.
BuzzFeed had asked Meta for comments as Instagram's parent company regarding rampant sexbots. They admit that they have made ongoing improvements.
"We continue to invest in anti-spam technology, as well as in our safety and security team of over 40,000 people who are focused on keeping spam and other types of content from invading our platform," said a spokesperson for Meta.
Sexbot is often used in scams or fraud. That's because sex is a topic that easily attracts people's attention. But remember carefully the advice not to easily click on links that are not secure. By keeping your account private and not just making a link, you should be able to avoid the dangers of sexbot tricks.
