Most of these fake viewers are mostly harmless—they make money from visitors completing “verification” steps, like watching videos and clicking ads to generate ad revenue, but they never show any private Instagram details. Other “viewers” are more malicious, asking for peoples’ Instagram credentials or credit card information in an attempt to steal that data.
If you’re feeling nervous about sending a request from your personal Instagram account, you could always create a new account. You might want to focus your new account on something interesting or funny to intrigue the person you want to follow, such as inspiring self-help quotes, hilarious memes, toys from the 2000s, or chihuahuas in costumes.
If the username is pretty common, try adding “Instagram” to your search to narrow down the results. You can also click or tap the Images link at the top of Google to view only images in your results.
