Instagram’s currently tweaking the design of the main Reels screen in the app, with users in India now seeing a new ‘Following’ tab alongside the main Reels feed.
New Delhi: In the past few months, the Instagram account holders, be small or big, have been complaining about their handles getting hacked or compromised. With a slew of complaints reporting, it seems like we are in the midst of an Instagram hacking epidemic.
There is a probable chance that your Insta account might also get hacked in times to come. So, if such situation arises in the future, you might want to skip ahead to “Do This If You’re Locked Out of Instagram,” and follow the instructions. If you act fast, you may be able to solve the problem fairly easily. Otherwise, things can get very tricky.
If you suspect your Instagram account has been hacked, here’s what to do.
Use Instagram Account Recovery
By Account recovery, the user can request a login link directly from Instagram
From there, you will enter your phone number or email address and click Send Login Link.
Instagram will send you an email to help you recover your account.
However, the user must note that the hackers might be really quick in changing the username and password, and the above-mentioned steps might not work.
Report the Account Hacking to Instagram
The user can find the form on the website. Fill it with all your account details, and there you will select My account was hacked and then click Request Support.
The social media giant will get back to you
When you hear back from Instagram, they will have you verify your identity for an extra measure of security.
The process looks like this:
- You will be sent a code directly from the site.
- They will have you take a picture of yourself holding a piece of paper with the code (usually they prefer this to be a selfie).
- They will also have you show the original email address or phone number that you used for the account.
- The company will then verify whether you are in fact 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 essentially is no way to hack this system they have in place.
Check Your Login Activity
- Checking your login activity will show you every time someone has used your username and password combination to get into your account.
- This will help you to identify suspicious logins to your account.
- When checking your login activity, it will show the date and time of each login.
- This can sometimes be tricky to remember if it was you or someone else.
- However, if you notice you suddenly have followers that you did not approve or photos posted that you know you did not take, then most likely someone has hacked into your account.
Turn on Two-Factor Authentication
This step is critically important because it will minimize any future hacking, as well. Two-factor authentication is a security feature and setting it up is easy. According to Instagram, there are several two-factor authentication methods you can use with your Instagram account.
