The Instagram account of Australian fashion blogger Rozalia Russian was hijacked by an American hacker, who extorted $5,000 from her before handing back her credentials, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Russian, who has over 181,000 combined followers on her @rozalia_russian Instragram page and her @rozalia.com.au Instagram online store page, knew something was amiss when fake followers started posting ads on her page, the report explains. Meanwhile, legit followers were un-following her after receiving irritating spam. Russian attempted to log in, but someone had changed her credentials.
Russian said her own IT expert traced the attack to a college student in the U.S., who demanded the $5,000 payment when Russian called him directly. Russian said she and a travel blogger friend who was also hacked paid the ransom together.
