What do I do if my Instagram account was hacked?

These days it seems like every day you read a report of an account getting hacked or a security breach. If your Instagram account was hacked, you're going to want to read below to get it fixed and secured.

Jul 16, 2019

In today's ubiquitous social media sphere, there are few things worse than getting your Instagram account hacked. It is a critical situation. A hacker can do whatever he/she wants with your account and can entirely damage your online reputation. This could be devastating news particularly if you use Instagram as a platform to earn an income. The key is acting fast once you realize that your Instagram account has been breached. Much is at stake and though it will be difficult your account can still be salvaged. The actions you take if your Instagram account is hacked depends on whether you can log in to your account or not. The latter is more severe.

If You Can Log in to Your Account

If you can still log in to your account but it has been hacked, there will be suspicious activity that will make you suspect possible hacking. Suspicious activity includes posting of content you have not authorized and appearance of comments not made by you.

One of the measures you can take is changing your password. Changing your password can be done by either resetting it or sending yourself a password reset email. It is the easiest way to recover control of your account.

Another step you can take is to check third party access to your Instagram's account. Only third party applications that follow Instagram's Community Guidelines or Terms of use should have access to your account. You should revoke access to your account by any third party app that you do not recognize or trust. Here are the steps to follow:

  1. Log in to your Instagram account
  2. Select the "Settings" icon on the profile page
  3. On the "Settings" page tap "authorized apps."
  4. Click "Revoke Access" and cancel access to third party apps which you do not approve of. You can also revoke access to all apps so that any app that wants access to your Instagram account will have to get personal approval from you.

If You Cannot Log in to Your Account

A malicious hacker will lock you out for your Instagram account right from the beginning. However, it is still possible for you to regain control of your account by doing the following:

  1. Go to Instagram's login page
  2. Select the "Get Help Signing In" option
  3. A "Reset Password" page will open and you will be prompted to input your username or email address
  4. For Android device users, select click on the arrow icon on the upper right corner of the page after inputting your email address.
  5. Apple device users will not have an arrow to select so they will go on to the next page where they will select the "Need More Help" tab.
  6. Complete the password reset process presented by Instagram.

If Your Email Address Has Been Changed

The more malevolent hackers will not only change your password but your username or email address as well. Recovering such an Instagram account is more difficult than the two cases previously mentioned.

The first thing will be to check whether there is an email from Instagram notifying you of the request for an email address change. If so, Instagram will ask if you were the one who requested for the change. If there you did not, Instagram will send you a message with a link that will enable you to recover your account. Instagram will send an auto response message to your original email asking you to verify your identity using one or both of the following:

  1. A photo of you holding a paper/card with a handwritten code that Instagram will provide.
  2. The email address or phone number you originally used to open your Instagram account.

Once you have provided the required information and your identity has been confirmed, then Instagram will send you specific instructions that will help you recover your account.

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Jeff truly believes that all customers deserve good service. He’s been building tools, inventing phone tree hacks and helping customers since before his days at GetHuman. He's also a Google GDE and involved in the Angular community.
What do I do if my Instagram account was hacked?

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