Miss England

Miss England functions as a long-standing English beauty pageant that organizes competitions to select representatives for national and international events. The organisation is headquartered in the United Kingdom. It promotes its contestants and activities through various platforms, with a particular emphasis on social media channels such as Instagram. The pageant's Instagram account maintains a following of over 20,000 users, reflecting its digital reach. By leveraging online engagement, the organisation aims to increase visibility for participants and attract broader audience interest.

In January 2021, the organisation fell victim to a phishing attack that began with a fraudulent message impersonating Instagram administrators. A staff member was deceived by the message into clicking a malicious link and subsequently surrendered authentication credentials. The compromised credentials allowed attackers to seize control of the Miss England Instagram account and alter its login details. After gaining access, the hackers demanded payment for the return of the account and contacted the organizer via mobile phone to negotiate a ransom. Law enforcement and national fraud authorities were notified of the incident, and Instagram's parent company intervened to secure and restore the hijacked account. Although the attack disrupted normal operations, the account was recovered without any further financial loss to the organisation.