One second I was watching TV with my husband, the next second my heart was dropping into my stomach as a read an “your instagram password has been changed” email. I immediately clicked “this was not me” to reset my password but it was too late – some sad cruel soul had already changed my password, username, associated email, and phone number. My Instagram was Hacked.
After trying to reset the password through every means possible (email, fb, phone number, I even put my old US SIM card in, reactivated the number, and tried resetting it there) I began searching for other people this had happened to and how to fix it. Turns out this happens more than you would think and it is happening at an even more rapid rate with every day. My story eventually has a happy ending – It took 5 weeks for my account to be restored but I did get it back, essentially unharmed, although my engagement since I have received it has tanked considerably due to a lack of presence as well as people unfollowing a whack username – but not every story ends with that same ending. For every girl who told me “she knew someone who got it back” there were two that had to “abandon hope and start a new account.”
Here is what I learned the hard way and how you can try your hardest to prevent your instagram from being hacked
1. Two-Factor Authentication
Turn. This. On. Turn this on for EVERYTHING. It is not a 100% solution (this blogger had it on and was still hacked) but it will certainly prevent a lot of potential hackers. I had turned this feature off a couple weeks before I was hacked because I downloaded a cleaner app (an app that identifies ghost/inactive followers so you can delete them) that wouldn’t work with 2-factor auth and then I never thought to turn it back on. Lets be honest, we never think its going to happen to us. I only had 27K followers, that is nothing compared to most influencers out there, surely no one would notice a small account like mine….Oops. So turn on 2-factor auth on and if an app wont work with it, don’t use that app! I even turned it on for my associated emails (and 2 days after my insta was account someone tried to hack my email — unsuccessfully thanks to 2 factor auth). This is your first, and best, line of defense.
- Pay Attention to What You Click
This wasn’t my downfall but it has been happening with a lot of other influencers. Scammers will send a collaboration email with a dirty link that when you click, allows them some sort of backdoor access to your accounts or desktop or something. I don’t know the technical hacker info but like always, shady links lead to shady activity so be extra aware of the emails and content you receive. It is scary how realistic it looks.
3. Instagram Customer Support Does Not Exist
This was probably the worst part of it for me, realizing that a company built on the premise of connecting people does not want you to connect with them in ANY WAY. There is literally NO WAY for you to talk to a person that works for Facebook or Instagram. Sure they have a “help page” but I have never experienced a less helpful page. I went in circles of “support” emails trying to prove my account was stolen and who I was that it brought me to rage. If I could have taken a bat to every support BOT for Instagram I would have, because that is all there is – bots. No humans reading anything, no humans responding, no humans helping. Some people report getting an email in Turkish that has a link that then leads them to getting their account back. This sounds absurd to me and I never received anything in Turkish but there are several accounts that have reported this working for them after going through the Instagram identification hoops. Who knows. I could honestly write a book about all the things I wrote to their support and got nowhere but I think you got the point
4. You Can Pay Your Way Back
A lot of Influencers that are getting hacked are receiving emails or other social media messages saying they are holding the account ransom – that they have to pay $300-800+ or their accounts will be deleted. I never got this message either. In fact, I had several people message the hacker (just casually messaging being like “hey Kali what happened to your username”) and they received nothing back. Other influencers have been able to negotiate the price, but still end up paying hundreds to get their years of work and business back to them. Another expensive path I almost walked down was hiring an “ethical hacker” to get the account back. There are sites out there that have “ethical hackers” that you can pay to try and hack your account back. The estimates I received were $600-$900 to “hack it back.” When I emailed them further (from an email address I created for that sole purpose) I never received responses though so I chose not to go down that path (plus the idea of working with hackers terrifies the crap out of me)
So, on those somber notes:
What can you do to either prevent a hack or find a way to get your account back if you have just been hacked.
- Change all of your passwords – change your passwords for everything associated with your Instagram – all the emails, programs, everything
- Turn on 2-factor authentication on everything – I think I covered the need for this earlier but after you have been hacked you still need to do this on everything else
- Report the account to Instagram. Just because their customer support sucks doesn’t mean you stop trying. Email them every day. Report the account every day.
- Have your friends report the account hacked. Eventually, after 4 weeks, my account was disabled. This is the BEST thing that can happen (kinda) because if the account is disabled from Instagram, it cannot be deleted. The problem is they rarely disable it fast enough
- Get someone to create a new account with your username. Everyone recommends this so you don’t lose your username. I did this and it actually made everything worse because Instagram kept resetting the NEW BLANK account instead of the hacked account. Just have someone else create it with some brand new email account they can create.
- Find someone who has connections at FB/Insta. Honestly this is how I got my account back. Because a friend had connections with people who could contact FB/Instagram. Even with their help it took another 2-3 weeks but I have almost no faith that I would have it back at all without them. Scour the earth and your friend list until you find someone who works there or knows someone who works there because this will be your best hope, sadly
- Stay Vigilant. Pay attention to what you download, apps you use, and links you click. You never know what is lurking.
It can be hard to stay calm when this happens. I essentially went through the grief cycle. I was in disbelief, I was sad, I was angry, I was apathetic. It is insane to feel all of this over something like social media but the reality is so many of us work so hard on our blogs and our Instagram as our side hustle, or even as full time jobs that it is so violating to have someone just take that from you. Hopefully this post can help someone else out there before it happens to them!
Stay Safe!
Xx
Kali
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