I received an email from Instagram that looked like a typical "see what you missed while you were offline" update. After I posted about it on Reddit, a lot of people warned me that it might have been a fake email. In hindsight, I remember receiving the same email before and just unsubscribed without thinking twice. It had an "open Instagram" button and an unsubscribe option right next to it. The first time I wasn't suspicious at all, so when I clicked the unsubscribe button, I got a popup in Gmail asking if I wanted to stop receiving messages from Instagram, and I confirmed. I ran a scan on my phone and it came back clean, but I'm still feeling a bit paranoid. How dangerous was this situation? Should I be concerned about my phone or account being compromised?
3 Answers
It's smart to be careful! Those fake emails often just aim to confirm that your email is active, which might lead to more spam but not necessarily malware. Check the URLs if you're unsure; legit links should always say 'instagram.com'.
As long as your system is updated, just opening an email or clicking a link (if it’s a legitimate site) should be fine. The real danger comes when you download or open files from these emails. If you didn’t do that, you likely have nothing to worry about!
Interacting with fake emails can be risky, but in your case, it sounds like using the Gmail unsubscribe feature is safe. As long as you didn’t click on any sketchy links, download anything, or share your login info, you’re probably in the clear. Just keep an eye on your accounts for any unusual activity, just in case!
Yes, that's what happened. Thanks!
All the links say instagram.com so I guess it's fine after all. Thank you for the suggestion!