Reports of hacked social media and email accounts surged in 2024, according to data from Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime.
A staggering 35,434 cases were reported throughout the year, a significant jump from the 22,530 reported in 2023.
In response, Action Fraud has partnered with Meta to launch a new public awareness campaign.
It focuses on promoting the use of two-step verification, urging individuals to bolster their online security by enabling this extra layer of protection on all their online accounts.
Action Fraud said criminals often target accounts for financial gain, using compromised profiles to perpetrate investment or ticket fraud.
In other cases, the account itself is the prize, stolen and potentially sold on for illicit purposes.
Adam Mercer, deputy director of Action Fraud, said social media and email account hacking was the most reported cybercrime.
The campaign marks “a critical issue” for everyone who has an online account, he said.
Meta’s security policy director David Agranovich said: “Scammers are relentless and continuously evolving their tactics to try to evade detection, which is why we’re constantly working on new ways to keep people safe while keeping bad actors out.
“Two-factor authentication (2FA) is one crucial example of how people can add an extra layer of security to their Meta accounts, to help reduce the risk of scammers accessing your accounts.
“We’ve also started rolling out facial recognition technology to help people get back into compromised or hacked accounts and are always working on new ways to stay ahead of scammers.”
Hacking methods highlighted by Action Fraud included fraudsters gaining control of an account and impersonating the legitimate owner to convince other people to reveal authentication codes.
Many victims of this type of hacking believe they are being messaged by a friend. Often when an account is taken over, fraudsters use it to promote fake tickets or crypto investment schemes, while impersonating the original owner.
Another common fraud happens when account details are gained via phishing scams or data breaches, such as leaked passwords.
People often use the same passwords across their accounts, so a leaked password from one website can leave several online accounts vulnerable to hacking.
