Social media scams copy Instagram accounts, target teens

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- The Sherwood Police Department is warning parents to protect their kids online after they received multiple reports of teen girls being the target of social media account cloning.

The department's school resource officers say criminals are making copies of student Instagrams by downloading the pictures off of their accounts.

Scammers then post links to adult websites like OnlyFans in the cloned account's description, promising sexually explicit content in exchange for credit card information.

Over the last two weeks, the police say they've taken reports of cloned accounts from at least four high school girls.

They tell us they've been able to get the fake accounts taken down, but the scammers, who are foreign-based, are still targeting their friends.

They are telling parents to immediately report fake accounts using their children's information.

Police also strongly recommend all kids turn their social media accounts private.