Getting one of your social media channels hacked isn’t anything new these days however it doesn’t make it less frightening whenever that happens. Recently my Instagram account got compromised and you bet that made me crazy even though I know I’m the one to blame for not having a secure enough password. I’ll detail how it happened and how I recovered it in this blog post.
I use Instagram a lot as it’s as personal to me as my Facebook account. In case you’re not following me yet, I love to post food pictures, headphones and things that I’m up to. Most of the things that I do online outside of my work-stuff are mostly personal so there really isn’t any business purpose or value for the account.
How it all unfolded
Everything started when I woke up one day and realized I have plenty of ‘request to follow’ notifications on my phone from my IG account which was weird since my account is public. I was gobsmacked when I found that the account logged-in became ‘janaehumbert99ft’ having a profile picture of a fat butt and a description that clearly baits perverts to follow the account and click the suspicious bio link.
I panicked immediately since my work Instagram account was also logged-in on the phone and I feared that it might get compromised too so I decided to just log out everything. My worst fears were realized when I found that the email address associated to my Instagram account had read emails about changing the account’s password and email address. This meant the hacker not only changed everything on my IG account through having access to my email, but possibly all other sites where it is the main email address (there’s a lot!).
Like any sane person would do, I changed the password of my email immediately and made sure it’s a tough one. I went back to my Instagram case and wrote them detailing everything through this page. At this point, I didn’t have any ideas as to what happened to my account. The way I explained was I thought my account was replaced with another account on my email address, then changed the email address, and then later on deleted my original Instagram account. So to summarize, my email did not have any IG account associated to it anymore since the hacker successfully was able to transfer it to a different email.
After some hours on the same day I was hacked, the new IG account named ‘janaehumbert99ft’ also disappeared which made me think the hacker might have renamed it to something else anew so it become untraceable for me. Another possibility that I thought of was Instagram disabling the account while investigating the issue.
Painful experience with Instagram Support
It was surprising that Instagram was slow and unhelpful at the beginning, oftentimes not understanding the issue at hand. It took 4 and a half days before I got a reply that made me think I’m not close to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
They made me write a code, my full name, email address and previous username on a piece of paper, then take a picture of that with me holding it. It sounded weird but I understood that it’s how they could really verify me and my claims.
Instagram support replied after a couple of hours saying my account has been reactivated again. Whew! Problem finally solved right? No!
I still couldn’t login, couldn’t reset password since the email was still not associated to any account and I couldn’t do anything! I emailed them back with that and they replied with almost just the same message which is ‘we have reactivated your account again, sorry about that’. But I still couldn’t login!!!
Much to my dismay I discovered that the account ‘janaehumbert99ft’ has been reactivated again and my friends started telling me that they’re seeing my photos under someone else’s account. Two things became clear to me then.
First was the ‘janaehumbert99ft’ account is really my previous Instagram account. It was just renamed but that’s my account. Remember at the beginning that I was under the impression my original account was swapped out and deleted but it didn’t seem to be the case.
Second was they simply reactivated the account using the same credentials, same email which I didn’t have access with! WTF!!! I got so pissed off because that only makes the hacker do more harm since the account has been reactivated again and more importantly, he can access it again. I was under his mercy basically as he can rename it, change the email and make it untraceable, or worse, start posting nude pictures or what have you and start alienating my followers! So stupid Instagram!
I sent successive replies explaining what I explained above but I did not get a reply on the same and the following day. I got a little worried that I might not be doing myself a favor as I might come across as annoying to whoever is handling my case.
I’ve decided to then just write a new report using the page I linked above. There I explained everything again carefully and made sure it didn’t become too long. It’s a little risky since I thought that could essentially restart my case again and then add up another week to it. Urgghh!
When I was explaining, I mentioned briefly that someone was already handling my case but I was not happy with how it’s being handled. I gave the supporter’s name so the new supporter can hopefully coordinate with him. I still summarized my case in my report and included my realizations that were not there the first time I reported the issue. I tried my best to keep everything not too long but still clear.
After more than 12 hours, a new support person from Instagram replied and much to my delight, it was the reply I was expecting to get from their previous support person. I finally got a link where I can change the password of the account and once I’m able to do that, I proceeded with changing the email back to one that I can access and then swapping back my own details like my username, description and website. Finally I changed the profile picture from the fat girl’s butt to my pretty face. I can’t believe I have my Instagram account back again!
What happened next was I unfollowed a lot of people since the hacker’s strategy seemed to be following lots of male accounts and then get them to follow back or click the suspicious bio link that could get them hacked. I got a minor boost in followers count which subsided down once they realized they’re following an account that was not what they thought it would be.
What to learn from this
There’s plenty to learn from this experience and all of them are unfortunately very basic which we just ignore until we become a victim. I changed all my passwords to a more secure one, enabled two-factor authentication whenever available, and made sure I’m aware what accounts are connected to what emails.
The funny but slightly annoying thing is I could’ve easily just gotten my account back had I not logged out of it on my phone. I could’ve gotten into the settings, changed my password, email and bio and I didn’t have to go through the whole draining process at all.
But if that happened, I’m pretty sure there’s a good chance I won’t change my passwords, make my email addresses more secure, you name them! I would then just be delaying the inevitable.
Not sure I can say right now the learning experience was worth it but hey, my accounts are more secure now, I have my IG back and that’s all that matters! 🙂
Why is no one helping and posting the link
need my password
My user I’d is chetnachavan & my istagram account has been hacked. Unable to access as the email address is been changed also unlinked to my FB account so please request you to delete the account
My user I’d is chetnachavan & my istagram account has been hacked. Unable to access as the email address is been changed also unlinked to my FB account so please request you to delete the account
My user I’d is chetnachavan & my istagram account has been hacked. Unable to access as the email address is been changed also unlinked to my FB account so please request you to delete the account
Plzz help me out someone
My Instagram also hacked. someone hacked my account thanks for this post it may help for me.
Can you please help me please someone hacked my account and they changed it to queeensarah__ my original name was _imtoowaveeey they changed my email and password and they are using my account to be me and they are scamming people . I tried emailing Instagram and they didn’t help at all and I need help can someone please help me please
My instagram account has been locked permanently or even temporarily or also who had hacked.
how can I get my instagram account ?
Need some help
please please please
I have 116k followers that’s why it was locked or hacked I don’t know
please kindly reply…
I’m eagerly waiting
actually my account was hacked and I’m very thankful for your article.Through this I got some ideas of preventing my account being hacked.
I just got hacked- they changed email . I can see my profile on another persons account- but its private- Where do I start- This is freaking me out. I cannot log in.
Thanks Kelly
kella
My account was hacked…. Please help
Hello I go to the link you provided the help Center but I don’t see anywhere that I can email them ?? I must be missing it can you please helet me so that I can get in touch with them my instagram has been hacked also and I don’t have access anymore to the email on file.
My account got hacked I need it back quick my Instagram name is tamya_j
I have lost my password for my instagram and I don’t know what the email address is and I’ve messaged instagram and they still haven’t replied
Thank you Belinda for helping me to get back my hacked mail and instagram….. I can’t believe I can get it back especially my instagram…. I’m so happy for myself.. you can get in touch with him…… at…..
topsecretemail300 at gmail dot com
My Instagram account was also hacked. They changed my username to “i4zahecazys1ql” they changed my password and my email account. IG’s support team is doing a poor job of helping me. How can they offer social media to us and have such crappy customer support. At this time I don’t even feel like there support team are real people!
Thanks. Help me pls
My istagram account has been hacked and I can’t access it anymore , my username on it is ferrari_d_supreme and now is one Rebecca_christensen , kindly help me the person has started posting porngraphy pictures and videos and everyone is worried about it
My acc is hacked at 10k username spicy.meme.king e-mail is changed please help me please
i have been hacked my name is brittany monique woodson but on instagram my name monique.henderson i been hacked i dont know how it happened i just have been for along time and i really need my account back.
Same thing has happened to me. Who did you contact in the beginning. I cannot find a contact email for Instagram reference an issue like this. Thank you!
well im kinda stuck. let me explain, so in a way this is all my fault because i gave all of my friends my instagram password. but then again im still friends with every single one of them so idk why soemoen would do that. when i tried to log in, my password didnt work, and so i got suspeciaouse. then i went on my spam account and looked at my profile, and someone had tooken all my friends names and my boyfriends names on there. and my bio said- im not a fake bitch like you or somehting like that proof- my account is lilly_whitlow suprsingly my name is still the same. so its ruining my reputation too because my school cheerleaders are following me and everything. any tips or help?
I’m not able to get link on my Gmail account…. They said we have send a link but link was not come to my account…. I check weather they are sending my account or not, everything is done right. But I’m not able to get link.. What to do now?
My acc was hacked
Please recover my acc
My acc very important
Please help me
Nice article !! Really helpful
My Instagram
Account has been
Hacked
I want my hacked account
It’s really a great and helpful piece of line.
My Instagram account (98king_) was hacked it’s very important to receive my accout back.. Thank You .
Hey I’ve been dealing with this issue for 3 months now and every time it’s “Phoenix” from Community Operations. They have been completely incompetent and this last time I felt like I was finally getting somewhere (had to take a picture with a code) but the dumbass was just helping me log back into my personal account I already had access to (not the account that was hacked by some Russian model). Idk wtf to do since apparently I’m getting the same person every time.
Hello, my instagram was logged. can you help me? pls contact my whatsapp 0183110454 thankyou very much
Hello.. My account is hacked (Urooj_maqsood) which is now changed into (asd.8979) please help me in recovering my account its very important to me..
hello my account is hacked(rahulmaran6281)my password is forgot in my mind and my email address is rong seen the msg please give me my account it’s very important to me
hello my account is My account was hacked too. Filled a form and they answered me to check my email box for a message they sent it when the hacker changed my email.
Never received this message tho.
Very disappointing.
Anyone knows where we can report this lack of support? Any association? (rahulmaran6281)
Some one hacked into my account and change the user name frome mr_fahad_ to drelargaskagara I tried to recover my account but the hacker has change my email and phone number.
My instagram account was hacked plz plz plz helf me and give me my account
sirr
hii my instagram accout is hacked its my person accout plzz help me to recover this accout its not poosible you will deleted my accout pzz
Hello there, My account was hacked and it seems like it was locked.. I tried to contact Instagram for couple of days but it is unhelpful.. The name on it earlier was djdhifa_untouchable and the hacker changed to naitaka_hii then temporary deactivated it.. Please help
my instagram account is hacked i don’t know by who (@jogezv) please help me to get it back
I don’t know if my account was hacked or not…. But I m not able to log in with the same details….. There r so many post of me….. And its my private account…. Can anybody help……. ??? .. Just reply me.. If someday…. Can help me…
My account was hacked by some Russian server email and all my info changed. I appealed to IG and sent them the code on the paper with my face clearly in it only to receive an email saying that they were unable to verify my account. I sent them another message asking why not and again got the same copy and paste answer. This has happened 5 times now and still no resolution. Any competent person can clearly identify me by comparing my pic to my IG pics. The fact that I keep getting the same unable to verify email leads me to believe it is a computer replying to me and not an actual support person.
I BELIEVE I WAS HACKED. ALL PICS OF MY CHILDREN, WIFE, FAMILY, DOG AND EVERYDAY PICS ARE ON ANOTHER PERSONS INSTRGRAM. I CANT LOG IN UNDER MY OLD INFORMATION AND USERNAME WAS GONE. I OPENED A NEW ACCOUNT WITH MY OLD USERNAME BEFORE THEY WERE ABLE TO DELETE. @JACKELYNMCKINNON IS THE ACCOUNT NAME THAT HAS ALL MY STUFF. INSTGRAM IS NO HELP. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can’t get into my instagram can’t remember my username or either email
Hi can’t login into my instagram don’t remember the password or email to also login us well
Can’t remember my instagram login
I just followed your steps and i got my account back. How can i thank you!! You are simply awesome
Hello, my instagram account is temporarily disconnected and it’s says it’s hacked. I can’t reset my password
Because the email I used for the account does exist anymore so that makes it hard for me to reset my password. Can you please let me long in to my account so I can update my information. My name is Helen gebreyesus.
Thank you,
Helen
Hello sir / madam ,
my intagram account has been impersonalised ,need to connect with account , the password has changed and even mail id , please take this serious matter and as early make my personal account free from it .
hello sir / madam ,
my instagram account has been impersonalised , need to coonect with my account and also mail id has been changed . many photos are opened and not in a private mode.
Hi, please help me out, my instagram account has been hacked, username was change and my email account has also changed, I have tried all the possible means to retrieve back even I have sent my picture holding a sheet of paper written on it, the code sent to me by instagram faf support with my original username, my email address and my full names but with all that I still failed to secure my account back. I tried to log in with my facebook account then it created a new account for me with facebook details, since then I found it difficult to secure the account I want back because the new created account using my register phone number and email address I used on the instagram account I want back. Please assist me on it. Thanks