Don’t make THIS mistake with Instagram
If you have an Instagram account and use it for your creative business, or to document special moments, make sure you don’t let all that time you’ve invested go to waste.
You’ve probably already had the thought: “It won’t happen to me.”
But how do you know?
What is your guarantee?
Just to be clear, we’re talking about hacking – and it’s more common than you think, and seems to be on the rise. Stats vary but some say that 200 million accounts get breached every year. A recent survey reports that 22% of Internet users say they have been hacked at least once.
If it hasn’t happened to you, most likely it’s happened to someone you know – many people you know.
Instagram @nataliewalton
HOW TO GET YOUR HACKED INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT BACK
If you are in the unfortunate situation of having your Instagram account hacked, these are the steps I recommend you follow. It’s how I got my account back (@nataliewalton).
Step 1 – Focus on talking to a human at Facebook
You want to have direct contact rather than relying on forms. I filled out all the forms on Instagram and Facebook, and was waiting for almost 3 weeks, with no update or resolution.
You can book a call with someone from Facebook ads. Even if you have to pay $5 to run an ad, it can save you days, weeks and months of your time trying to get the issue resolved.
If you have an existing Facebook Business account go to Account Health and you can chat via Messenger to someone at Facebook.
Make sure you have all dates and information recorded in a factual way – take the emotion out of it. We took screenshots and shared those within a log of dates and times and what happened.
Note – We had our Facebook Business page hacked too, and that was reinstated first. We had to ask at least 3 times to get the Instagram account reinstated. Be persistent. Also, link to your website, work, or anything that proves you’re a legitimate business or person. I shared links to my books on Amazon.
Step 2 – Find someone who works at Facebook and Instagram
Reach out to any and all your contacts in the hope that someone knows someone who works at Facebook or Instagram. They can create an internal ticket and it’s more likely that your account will get reinstated.
I know of several people who were able to get their Instagram accounts back this way. However, this strategy didn’t work for me.
Step 3 – Search YouTube
There are lots of different videos on YouTube, where others share how they got their account back. Make sure you search within YouTube rather than Google.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK
I tried so many different strategies and while they might work for some people, I don’t think any of these ultimately resulted in me getting my account back.
Filling out forms – Initially I was suspended from my Instagram account for breaching community guidelines for being too young. I disputed the decision and uploaded my ID. I had a message to say I should hear back from FB within a day. I waited almost 3 weeks and nothing happened. There are some helpful tips on which forms to fill in this article.
Reporting the problem – I reached out to my newsletter list, and also set up a backup Instagram account, and asked everyone to report the issue to Instagram, stating that I was an adult woman, not underage for the app. You can do this within Settings > Help > Report a problem. While I appreciated everyone going to the effort to do this, and I’ve heard of it helping others who were suspended, it didn’t seem to work for me.
Two-factor authentication – I had it turned on, and still got hacked. While I’m sure it probably helps in some cases. I’ve definitely noticed a few strange attempts to get into my account from China and Russia in the past, but it didn’t stop the hackers this time.
Getting hackers to break into your account – I heard mixed reports of others using hackers to get their account back. Some said it worked, others said they lost money and they wished they hadn’t done it. I would avoid going down this path, unless you’ve had people you know recommend someone specifically who got good results.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ACCOUNT
While I don’t think I’ll ever know how the account got hacked, I have my suspicions. If you have a weak password that you’ve used on multiple sites – and most people I know have one of these types of passwords – you are more likely to get hacked.
Now, I manage all my passwords through LastPass, which is a password management tool to generate secure passwords for either personal or business accounts. My husband has been using this tool for several months, and now I have made the switch. This is not sponsored or an affiliate link, just a tool that we use and recommend.
Save yourself a huge amount of time, and stress, and secure your passwords.
GET THE FULL STORY
In this week’s podcast episode, I’m sharing all the details of my experience with Instagram over the past few weeks. Click below to listen in and learn how to better protect your account.