We get up one morning and we find ourselves with the stolen Instagram account: how is this possible?
Let's be mindful: did our smartphone end up in unreliable hands? Did we leave the password stored on a public computer? Have we lost the piece of paper we wrote it down on (bad habit!)?
Whatever the reason, the damage is done and the nightmare has materialized: Instagram account stolen, us locked out, information (and reputation) at the mercy of who knows who!
The first thing to do is don't lose your cool, the second is to roll up our sleeves and try to regain access to our stolen Instagram account as soon as possible. And, with this guide, we promise to do just that!
NOTE: if you came here out of pure curiosity but your Instagram account is still intact, the dispassionate advice we can give you immediately is to load on Instagram, before the crime happens, one photo that represents your face. This will simplify the recovery procedures in case the password reset fails.
We remind you that, if our stolen Instagram account is associated with our Facebook, there is the probability that we will have to recover the latter too!
Instagram account stolen: what to do
The first thing to do if we find ourselves with the stolen Instagram account is to try to reset the password. If we have fallen victim to "professionals" who immediately changed the email, we can interact with the Instagram help center to recover the account.
Reset your password
If we're lucky, the attacker won't have disassociated our email; therefore we can immediately change the password. To do this, we tap on "Forgot Password"From the app; when prompted, we enter our username and move on. We will be sent an email with instructions to reset the password of the stolen Instagram account.
If it is more convenient for us, we can also proceed from the browser: let's go to the page below, enter the requested information and wait for the email with the instructions.
LINK | Instagram – Retrieve password
Contact the Instagram help center
If we can't recover the stolen Instagram account because the attacker changed the email, we can contact the Instagram help center.
First of all, let's go to the page linked below and insert the requested information.
LINK | Instagram - Report hacked victim account
We will be contacted at the email address entered by the Instagram team, which will manually start the recovery procedure. Obviously the staff will want to make sure that we are the real owners of the stolen Instagram account. To proceed with the verification of our identity, we may be asked to:
- send a photo of us with a code that will be sent to us; the team will compare it with the photos on our stolen Instagram account and, if it finds sufficient feedback, it will start the procedure for us;
- specify theemail address with which we subscribed to the service;
- to specify if and when password changes occurred;
- provide information on any deleted content with us in the past.
Once the team has certified that we are the real owners of the stolen Instagram account, they will provide us with instructions for regain possession of our account e reset the password if necessary.
