Before you panic, here are some tips to try to recover your Instagram account if you believe you’ve been hacked.
If your Instagram account has been hacked, the first thing to do is not to despair and act wisely. Here we will explain how to recover the hacked Instagram account, but first, let’s talk about how a hacker could have managed to steal your social network credentials.
Having your Instagram account hacked is a big problem for everyone, but especially for business accounts. Many businesses rely directly on social media for both marketing and direct sales. And having the account hacked, in these cases, means huge financial losses.
How did the hacker hack into my Instagram account?
Unfortunately, hackers can break into an unprotected Instagram account in less than 10 minutes. This is usually done in one of the three ways below:
- Get login information.
- Phishing: The hacker sends a convincing email with a link to a fake Instagram login page. If you click on this link and log in using your username and password, this hacker will get your access credentials.
- Using third-party apps: Always revoke access to suspicious third-party apps. Never authorize an application you don’t trust to access your personal information.
How to Recover Your Hacked Instagram Account
If your Instagram account has been hacked, it’s important to act quickly . Follow these steps to recover your account.
1. Use Instagram account recovery
- Just below the fields where you enter your email and password to enter Instagram, there is a link saying “Forgot your password?”. Click on it;
- Afterwards, you will be redirected to a password recovery page. Enter your phone number or email address, and click Send Login Link;
- Then Instagram will send you an email with the link to recover your account.
In short, if you were recently hacked, it is possible that you can recover your account with the tutorial above. However, sometimes hackers are so quick that they change your username, email and phone number shortly after breaking into your account. If your user data is found to be invalid, proceed to step 2.
2. Report to Instagram support
If you are unable to recover your account via email or phone because the hacker has changed your data, the next step is to report it to Instagram.
On the Instagram website, you have to fill a form with all your account details, and there, you will select My account was hacked . Then click Request Support .
When you get news from Instagram they will make you verify your identity for an extra measure of security. The process is like this:
- You will be sent a code directly from the website.
- They will make you take a picture of yourself holding a piece of paper with the code on it (they usually prefer this to be a selfie).
- They will also have you show the original email address or phone number you used for the account.
- Finally, Instagram will verify that you are indeed the user of the account by comparing the photo with your Instagram photos.
This is considered a surefire way for Instagram to recover your account because there is no way to hack this system they have in place.
3. Check your login activity
This step is found in your Instagram settings. Checking your login activity will show you each time someone has used your username and password combination to log into your account.
Doing so can help you recognize suspicious logins to your account. When checking your login activity, it will show the date and time of each login. Sometimes it can be hard to remember if it was you or someone else.
However, if you suddenly notice that you have followers that you didn’t approve of, or photos posted that you know you didn’t take, then someone has probably hacked your account.
Choose a password manager to make your account more secure
After recovering the Instagram account, it is important to make sure that no one hacks it again. Change your password, enable two-factor authentication, and use a password manager. As I said above, it is safer and can be an option to have an extra guarantee of security.
In the market, there are several apps, free and paid, that can help you in everyday life. Among the best known are 1Password, LastPass and Karspersky Password Manager . To choose the ideal one for you, consider the functions offered by the service and your budget.
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