Darknet Vendors Sell Aged, Phone-Verified Social Media Accounts
Summary
DarkOwl analysts describe a market for aged and phone-verified social media accounts, credentials and engagement bots. These services can help buyers bypass security checks and support disinformation campaigns.
Key points
- Vendors advertise fresh and aged accounts, with prices influenced by account history, followers and platform.
- Listings include phone-verified accounts and may bundle associated email addresses, passwords and backup 2FA codes.
- The article reports demand for accounts across platforms including YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.
- Some vendors sell credential combinations believed to come from reused passwords exposed in other breaches.
- SMS services and account-creation tools are marketed to help create accounts and get past verification checks.
- Vendors also offer bots to generate likes, views or traffic; the article notes that purchased followers may not last.
- Darknet forum users reportedly discuss copying influencer content to support disinformation goals. The article says a follow-up report would examine how accounts are used in campaigns.
Article Details
- Topic
- Darknet market for fake, compromised, and phone-verified social media accounts, and related bots and services used to support disinformation
People
Products
FacebookIn one case, we observed a Russia-based supplier advertising over 30,000 accounts for sale across Facebook and Twitter aloneGmailIn addition to social media platforms, we also observed vendors selling Gmail accounts, which notably require security measures such as two-factor authentication (2FA)InstagramFacebook and TikTok accounts tend to cost the most across most social media account brokers, followed closely behind by LinkedIn, Reddit, and InstagramRedditReddit accounts are also in high demand and are priced based on the amount of Reddit ‘karma’ the account comes with – with some listings advertising accounts with over 50,000 karma pointsTelegramWe have steadily observed darknet forum users offering account verification services for accounts created in the USA, UK and China on Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, Gmail and others.TikTokFacebook and TikTok accounts tend to cost the most across most social media account brokers, followed closely behind by LinkedIn, Reddit, and InstagramTwitterIn one case, we observed a Russia-based supplier advertising over 30,000 accounts for sale across Facebook and Twitter aloneYouTubeOf all the social media platform account information listed for sale, YouTube accounts seem to be the most popular overall
Tools
GramCreatorOn a popular deep web forum, one user offered access to a SaaS-like platform called, GramCreator for creating Instagram PVAs in mass for a flat fee.SaveogramRussian criminal darknet forum, members also discuss the employment of social media crawlers such as Saveogram to crawl and harvest content from the real Instagram accounts of influencers, which they then used as a
Countries
ChinaWe have steadily observed darknet forum users offering account verification services for accounts created in the USA, UK and China on Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, Gmail and others.RussiaIn one case, we observed a Russia-based supplier advertising over 30,000 accounts for sale across Facebook and Twitter aloneUnited KingdomWe have steadily observed darknet forum users offering account verification services for accounts created in the USA, UK and China on Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, Gmail and others.United StatesWe have steadily observed darknet forum users offering account verification services for accounts created in the USA, UK and China on Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, Gmail and others.