Snapchat scams and private picture leaks: how to stay safe when using snapchat.
With over 493 million active users in the second quarter of 2026, Snapchat is a social media powerhouse, and that means it’s a prime target for cybercriminals and a vital platform for scammers.
Here are some of the ways the disappearing message platform has been targeted by hackers and used by scammers over the years.
A brief history of Snapchat scams and private picture leaks
Snapchat Account Suspension Hoax
In October 2025, following an AWS outage that took Snapchat offline, a forwarded message scam went viral, warning that the recipient’s Snapchat account was suspended. This was a hoax, and a nostalgic one at that for anyone who remembers the chain mail scams of the early 2000s.
A Snapchat scam stole over 55,000 user logins
In 2018, over 55,000 Snapchat users have had their login details posted online as the result of a phishing scam. The users in question were tricked with a fake Snapchat login screen, which they then entered their login details into.
This isn’t an uncommon method of attack and Snapchat have apologised for the leak, while warning users to be very careful when clicking links.
Mark James, ESET IT Security Specialist, explains that two-factor authentication (2FA) could be a simple fix for this kind of attack.
“It’s bad enough if you get hacked and someone steals your logon credentials to use elsewhere, but more and more of these “hacks” are no more than being tricked into logging into a fake website using your actual username and password.
“Often these links or websites look very real and in some instances you could be forgiven for being tricked, but there is an easy way to stop this.
“By using two-factor authentication you could any mitigate the damage caused by your being tricked.
The 2013 data breach and subsequent private picture leaks
Between 2013 and 2014, hackers exposed usernames, numbers, and approximate locations for around 4.6 million users. In October 2014, hackers released a series of images sent via the messaging service Snapchat and they have threatened to release more. Snapchat blames the use of 3rd party apps for the leak.
Snapchat is notorious for its core concept of deleting images soon after they are sent.
Users have found various ways to circumvent this deletion. Including using a “third party Snapchat client application or web site”, says Mark James, ESET security specialist.
According to Snapchat the use of “third-party apps to send and receive Snaps” is how the images leaked, “a practice that [they] expressly prohibit in [their] Terms of Use”.
Staying safe on Snapchat: Advice from Mark James, ESET Security Specialist
Smartphone Weakness
I don’t think it would be to bold to say that Smartphones are the weakest point in our personal networks of internet security.
Education on keeping your big PC or even your laptop protected is commonplace and I think that for the most part people understand that they need an antivirus on those devices.
Smartphones are a different matter. AV licences for smartphones and tablets are much less common. Despite the fact that a lot of people probably spend as much, if not more time, interfacing with their mobile devices. Even if it’s not active use: your phone might well still be connecting and communicating with the wider world in some form.
The big problem is that we don’t see ourselves as potential targets for these kinds of attacks, but these weren’t pictures of celebrities, they were of normal people.
Smartphone Privacy
Folks take their privacy for granted until it’s breached, like their saucy photos for example.
Generally speaking people understand that you don’t want to give away your bank details, passport information and other such important info. But we don’t fully understand the value of our email addresses, telephone numbers, contacts lists etc. This information is highly valuable to the right people.
We also consider smartphones to be private devices but we are moving data through them over the internet onto services like Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, email clients and many more. As Mark so aptly puts it: “internet private = false”.