Instagram has banned hundreds of accounts linked to the notorious “OGUsers” forum, where members buy and sell stolen social media accounts. The company is also chasing some of the forum’s highest profile members, threatening legal action if they continue to use Instagram and break its rules, Motherboard reported.
Instagram says it has disabled about 400 accounts, which were behind a series of identifiers that are considered valuable by people who trade on social media accounts. These “OG” usernames, usually short and unique words, are considered status symbols and are often bought and sold for thousands of dollars on forums like OGUsers. One of those accounts disabled in Thursday’s crash was @trusted, which was used by an OGUsers member who acted as an intermediary, according to Motherboard.
Because of the value associated with these identifiers, these accounts also become frequent targets for hackers who often use SIM exchange attacks to take control of the accounts. According to Instagram, OGUser members also resort to other tactics, such as harassment and extortion. “Today, we are removing hundreds of accounts connected to members of the OGUsers forum,” an Instagram spokesman said in a statement. “They harass, extort and harm the Instagram community, and we will continue to do everything we can to make it difficult for them to profit from Instagram usernames.”
While it is not the first time Instagram has harassed people associated with OGUsers, it is the first time the company has publicly named it as part of a mass removal. The forum was also related to the massive Twitter hack last summer, when Bitcoin scammers were able to access the accounts of Barack Obama, Elon Musk and other high-profile Twitter users. According to security journalist Brian Krebs, TikTok and Twitter have also acted against accounts associated with OGUsers.