By: Tracey Ho, SFU student

I’ve been hacked on Instagram. After nine years of using the account to showcase art, post photos of some exhibition or cool scenery, and of course, show off neat photos of myself — my account’s been turned into a platform for Internet bros’ latest go-to scam. 

That’s right; my beloved Instagram account has been turned into a Bitcoin scam account. This March, I got a message on the ‘gram that tricked me into giving over my account information. Within moments, I lost all access to my account of nine years. 

I was forced to see my account advertise fishy Bitcoin schemes. The poster showed off their (alleged) earnings and a shiny, expensive car. How nice. All my followers have to put up with this crap. The followers who had, for nine years, trusted me to share my art with them were now being subjected to Bitcoin advertisements. 

That night I searched YouTube for answers; not just about getting my account back, but about what Bitcoin is. I left with more questions than answers. Is it real money? Is it the official incel currency? Can I punch a Bitcoin? I’m convinced nobody knows. And no, you don’t know either. 

I lost sleep over this. I took a break from social media entirely, writing how I felt about social media in my journal. I then deleted other personal accounts to protect myself from future phishing scams. All for some Bitcoin jerks that, as it turns out, are massive contributors to climate change! 

I wish I could have my Instagram account back, partly to access my art, and partly to reduce the number of absurd Bitcoin scam accounts by one. We as a society need to stop respecting this crypto-scam disguised as the currency of the future. It’s not revolutionary; it’s a scam, plain and simple.