Wow. I have a 6 letter Instagram account handle that actually matches a popular (Western) name and initial out there. So far I get about one fairly polite request per month via DM to sell my handle to them, which I always decline, but lately I am seeing a rise in the number of 'password reset' emails I am getting from Instagram. It's gone from about one per week to sometimes 2 or 3 per day.
That fact, plus the stories in this article is making think of really closing off my social media visibility a lot more than it currently is.
Similar boat here - 3 character handle (my initials), and a constant flood of password resets. I used to get a lot of offers to purchase, the highest being $20k, but those seem to have stopped lately.
I am in the same situation. Sometimes I wonder if I should have responded to a bit higher offer sent by someone who possibly was a super wealthy Saudi kid (I am talking racing-lambos-in-the-desert-rich kind).
That fact, plus the stories in this article is making think of really closing off my social media visibility a lot more than it currently is.