If your Instagram account was hacked and you cannot access your profile at the current time, you might be panicking. Worry not, I have put this guide together to help you solve this sadly recurring issue. By the end, you will have the information you need to regain your account and keep your data.
Hello friends, it is your friend Frankie Caruso here, the instant messaging guru and wizard, with some more help for Instagram. Today, you are going to get pertinent information about how to reconcile your account when it has been hacked.
I am regularly receiving emails on all of my social channels from those who have lost access to their Instagram accounts because a hacker has taken over. If they have not lost their account entirely, they have been hit with a DM bomb that sends out posts, photos, and private messages to contacts without them knowing.
It is annoying and sad.
There are ways to work around this, however. I have the solution to get rid of the hack or the planted virus.
Use this guide to introduce you to the process. I go over each step in detail so you are sure to be able to get this accomplished the first time you try.
Lastly, I am going to show you some preventative measures you can take to make your account less accessible to future hacking attacks.
Again, if you want to keep getting guides that might help you along like this, you can get my free weekly newsletter or subscribe to my YouTube channel for video content.
No more dallying, it is time to get you back in control of your account 💪
Frankie’s Take:
You might get an email notifying you that your account password has been changed or that someone is attempting to login to your account. You have to act as fast as possible. The more time that passes between these alerts and your action, the more likely that your account might be ruined permanently.
My Instagram Has Been Hacked – Here Is How You Recover It
Hacking is a part of daily life now, and there are many ways for this to happen to your Instagram account. Some are simple (like social engineering) while others are more complex than this guide has time to explain.
For more information on how your account could be compromised, you might look at the guide I have written on how to spy on an Instagram profile. You will find in reading this that becoming a victim of a hacking attack on your profile is actually a lot easier than you might have thought.
If you have been hacked, what do you do next?
There are a few immediate steps that you should implement.
If you still have access to your profile, I will go over methods to help you with this scenario first. If you have lost access to log into your account, I have steps for you to follow in this situation as well.
If You Still Have Access to Your Profile – Follow These Steps
Step 1: Change Your Password to Something Strong
If you have suffered a hacking incident, you must immediately change your password.
Pick a strong password that is not something someone could possibly guess.
Every social media account that you have should have a different password.
Frankie’s Take:
It is a good practice to change your password with something new every two months. Use completely unique passwords, and do not exchange them with ones you have already used.
Step 2: Log Out on Connected Devices
Your action to change the password will log every connected device or entry point to your account out. Each will be required to enter this new password before being allowed re-entry to the profile.
Step 3: Check Your Email and Phone Number
Check your personal information when you get logged in. Your email and phone number could be different, as this is one of the first things a hacker is likely to do when they have access to your account.
Your phone number and email address will be changed to something that the hacker has access to exclusively.
If these areas have been changed, change them back to your information first. Monitor your page for a little bit to see if any strange activity results.
Step 4: View the Login Activity
Look in your Instagram settings for this step. You can check the login activity, which shows the date and time of each recent successful login to your profile.
Now, you have an idea of when the suspicious login occurred.
If You Cannot Access Your Profile – Follow These Steps
Step 1: Instagram Account Recovery
You can use this tool (the Forgot password button) to help get your Instagram account back.
Attempt to recover your account by requesting a special login link directly from Instagram administrators.
You will choose to Send Login Link and enter your email address.
When you receive the email from Instagram with account recovery steps and information, you can follow prompts. When you regain access to your account, enter a new password.
Hackers can quickly change usernames and passwords for your account, which means that this account recovery approach might not always be successful.
If the link is unsuccessful in connecting you with your compromised account, use the Instagram Support function and explain the situation so they can help you more directly with restoring and recovering your account.
Instagram App for Android Phones:
- Tap on the login screen to get help with logging in. Enter your username and password.
- There will be an available link labeled ‘Do you require further assistance?’ once you put in your personal information.
- If you have several accounts, you may be asked to pick the one you are failing to access, and then follow the prompts.
- Once you choose, on-screen instructions will follow. Click on Do You Require Further Assistance?
- After selecting your information (email address or phone number), tap Send security code.
- If you do not get a security code, you can select that you can’t access this email address or phone number from the available menu. Then, send the code and follow its instructions.
Instagram App for iPhone Devices:
- From the login link screen, tap this link. Choose ‘Do you require further assistance?’ Provide requested information, and select your email address or phone number, then opt to send the code.
- Choose that you cannot access the email address or phone number from the drop menu if you do not get the code in your inbox or text. Send the code and then follow the instructions on the screen.
It is necessary to choose a private email address that you only have access to for this step. Instagram will send you an email with more steps once you submit this request.
What Should You Do if You Don’t Know Your Username or It Has Been Changed:
- Check your inbox for an email from Instagram that this information has been changed.
- Ask a friend to screenshot what the username currently is from their profile.
Step 2: Verify Your Identity
If all your information has been changed, verifying your account is a challenge. If you want to recover your account, however, you must do it.
Instagram will ask you to submit an image of an ID card with accurate information and a clear picture of you.
You can help by creating a selfie video with your face at different angles to show that this account belongs to only you.
Step 3: Report the Account
If you are still unable to access your account, you should report your account to get it permanently removed. This will prevent the misuse of your data and images.
Make sure you report the account to others that you know as well. Enlist the help of your friends and family and let them report the account too.
Frankie’s Take:
If you are having no success at recovering or accessing your account through the listed methods, reporting is a final resort to ensure that the use of this profile does not persist.
Keeping Your Account from Getting Hacked
My grandmother always used to say, “prevention is better than cure.”
In this sense, that could not be truer.
Using this part of the guide, I want to give you five tips that are going to help you prevent this unfortunate hacking circumstance from happening to you (or happening again.).
Let’s get started.
1. Avoid Linking Your Instagram with Other Social Media
Many use Facebook and other social sites to access their Instagram, which can be a point of access for hacking.
If a hacker has access to one account, all linked accounts are then accessible.
In this same vein, do not use the same login and passwords for all of your accounts. You can thwart losing multiple accounts simultaneously this way.
2. Avoid Suspicious Links
Phishing is a common tactic utilized by many hackers.
Do not click on links from untrusted sources, or something randomly sent to you from contacts.
Delete the message and block the sender, especially if they are not someone you know.
3. Start Using a VPN
VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks encrypt your internet traffic and mask your IP address, adding a full layer of internet security to you actions.
NordVPN is a user-friendly solution that can protect you against spammers and hacking, and it is available for a variety of devices. The premise is that you can be protected from those looking to intercept sensitive information.
4. Protecting Your Account from 3rd Party Access
You should never permit third-party apps to access accounts like Instagram. While you might have an easier time submitting images across several platforms, you are an open books for hackers to jump into a less secure app you are using and grab access to your most sensitive account information.
Go to the security settings and choose “Apps and Websites” and see what connected programs have access right now to your information.
Watch for data breaches that could impact these apps or their parent companies. Change your password immediately when you discover one.
5. Turn on Notifications
Instagram can notify you when they think something suspicious is happening.
You can be directly notified when login activity doesn’t make sense or when your password gets reset. If you didn’t request the password change, you can report this immediately to Instagram.
Change your password yourself after you get notifications like this and check the login activity as described to see where you have been logged in from.
Frankie’s Take:
These measures will be helpful to protect you. Use these steps and you are less likely to contend with hacking issues.
Frequently Asked Questions
Haven’t found answers to all the questions you have? Worry not, read on.
My account was deleted during a hacking attack, can it be recovered?
Unfortunately, if your profile was deleted by a hacker, there is no way that you can recover it. Even with direct communication with Instagram administration, or police involvement, it is gone forever.
The only thing you can do is create the same profile up from scratch using the email your old one was deleted from.
Should you pay a ransom to get your account back?
Ransomware is more and more popular, but you should understand that giving into these demands rarely if ever means getting your account back. Stay away from these situations and avoid further contact.
What should I do if I can’t access the email I’ve used for Instagram?
If you need to regain access to your Instagram account, you have to be able to access the associated email. Per Instagram’s policies, you have to update your email on your account (if this is even possible) or attempt to regain access to that email account through that provider.
If you are unable to regain access to this associated address, Instagram will not grant you permission to your profile.
Conclusion
Now we are at the end of the guide.
Hopefully, you found some information you could use, especially if you have fallen victim to a hacking attempt.
Now that you know how to handle being hacked, do not waste time in acting on the situation. The longer you wait, the more likely your account is unrecoverable. Use the steps we have covered above to get access again and protect yourself with precautionary measures.
Learn everything you can about keeping your account and profile protected.
Have any more questions or concerns? You can leave a comment on this post so that I can get back with you with the answer.
Before we part, I would like to take one more opportunity to express the wealth of information and continued fresh content on my YouTube channel and through the free weekly newsletter you can sign up for.
Much love,
Frankie Caruso
