Today many people use Instagram as their main social network, and it is there where they share their memories and experiences in the form of images , but also where they have all their online contacts and friends. Therefore, having your Instagram account hacked can be a very big problem.
All this without considering that we may also be using Instagram professionally or as a work tool, in which case the theft of the account can also lead to significant economic and online reputation losses.
If your Instagram account has been stolen and you want to recover it, there are several actions you can take. Everything will depend on the severity of the hack, although I am already telling you that it is a process that can take a long time. So it should be taken with patience and a certain calm.
Why has my Instagram account been hacked?
Cybercriminals often hack accounts that already have a large number of followers . They do this to be able to share their own content to a large audience for free or to make a profit by selling the account to third parties.
For this reason, when an account is hacked, it is common for thieves to change its name , modify the profile image and even delete all the content published so far by its legitimate owner.
Therefore, the main reason to steal an Instagram account is usually financial, but they can also hack your account to post content in your name and ruin your reputation. Or even to break the rules of the social network using your profile and thus force Instagram to delete or cancel your Instagram account.
How could my account be hacked?
In order for a hacker to steal your Instagram account, they need your contact and login details, such as your email address, password, or phone number .
This information can be obtained in different ways, although the most common cause is the use of a weak password . If you use a very obvious or simple password , the hacker could easily guess it.
Also, if you use those same credentials on other social networks or platforms, it’s possible that your password was leaked in a security breach and hackers used it to get into your Instagram account as well.
If you are looking for more information about it, you may be interested in taking a look at the post “ The most used techniques to hack passwords ”.
To prevent your account from being hacked in the future, always avoid any third-party apps related to Instagram (they may contain malicious code). Apps to gain followers, apps to automatically upload photos to Instagram or apps to generate hashtags: run away from them!
How to recover a stolen Instagram account
If your Instagram account has already been hacked and you cannot log in with your credentials, Instagram currently offers you 4 solutions to try to recover it.
In these cases , the most important thing is the speed of reaction , since according to Instagram itself, it is practically impossible to recover an account after 14 weeks after the theft. We must act as soon as possible!
1- Recover your account using email
The first thing we have to do is check our email inbox. If our account has been stolen, it is likely that Instagram has sent us an email indicating that it has detected suspicious activity in our account .
It is also possible that we have received an email from Instagram indicating that our account data is being modified .
If we receive an email of this type, inside we will find a link provided by Instagram, which we can click to regain control of our account. Once done, change the password immediately.
2- Request a link to log in to Instagram
If the first method has not worked, the next thing is to ask Instagram to send us a link to our email or phone number.
Note: Most likely, the hacker has already changed the email address, so ask for the link to be sent to your phone.
- Go to the Instagramlogin screen and click on “ Forgot your password ?”. If you access from an Android device, click on “ Get help ”.
- On the next screen, enter your email, phone number or username and click on “ Send login link”.
- Next, choose if you want to receive the link by email or by SMS.
- Wait a couple of minutes and check your SMS or email inbox. You should find a message from Instagram giving you the option to regain access to your account or change your password.
If you manage to access, change the password as soon as possible.
3- Recover your account with a security code
The next method to recover a stolen account is to request a security code from Instagram. To do this you will need to do the following from the Instagram app for Android or iPhone.
- Go to the Instagram login screen and tap on “ Get help signing in”.
- Enter your username, email or phone number linked to your account and click on “Ca n’t reset your password?”.
- Then select “ Need more help?”.
- Enter your phone number or email and tap on “ Send security code”.
You will shortly receive an SMS or email with a 6-digit security code with which you can regain access to the account.
4- Inform Instagram that your account has been hacked
If none of this has worked so far, it is most likely because the hacker has already changed the email, phone number or even username of your Instagram account.
In cases like this, the only thing we can do is report the hack to Instagram so they can help us regain access.
- Follow the same steps that we have indicated above. That is, go to the login screen and choose “Get help signing in -> Can’t reset your password? -> Do you need more help?”
- Now, instead of tapping on “Send security code”, tap on “ I can’t access this email or phone number”.
- Fill in the form providing all the data related to your account, indicate that your account has been hacked, and click on the “Request help” button.
From here, we just have to wait. In a reasonable time (it can be hours or even days) we will receive the response from Instagram, and they will ask us to verify our identity .
To verify our identity we will have to record a video selfie in which we move our heads in different directions. This will serve Instagram to show that we are a real person while confirming our identity.
One final tip
If Instagram rejects your recovery request, don’t give up. Please note that these reviews are done manually. That is, they do not use any easy recognition algorithm, but rather a human does.
The best thing you can do is re-record a new selfie video and send it to Instagram for them to review your case again. You can resubmit your request as many times as you want.