I receive a lot of emails in my What The Fab inbox. How my Account was Stolen by Instagram Hackers
If they don’t, this type of extortion is only going to get worse. Since hackers have now found a way to bypass Instagram’s 2-step verification, and it is happening to other influencers right now by the hands of the same Instagram hackers, I hope that Instagram can rethink the type of support they provide. I want other influencers to know exactly how this happened, so that they can avoid this happening to them, because it was truly 12 hours of feeling sick to my stomach.Īnd secondly, because going through this experience made me realize how little Instagram cares about your account and helping you if you get hacked, unless you’re Selena Gomez and someone is posting nudes of Justin Beiber from your account. I’m sharing this story for a couple of reasons. But it could happen.” I was suddenly faced with the “ could happen,” happening. When we say this, or when I listen to industry leaders talking about it at events, there’s always the comforting caveat “Now, I don’t think that’s actually going to happen anytime soon. Instagram is so important for our brands and our businesses right now because it’s so popular, but it could be gone tomorrow, so we still need to put time and energy into our blogs-the only platform where we truly own our content. I hear it all the time on influencer podcasts and in discussion with my blogger girlfriends. Now imagine all of that is taken from you in an instant. Imagine that all of that hard work and dedication has generated an income for you, and paid off in opportunities to partner with brands, experience restaurants and trips, and build a community. Now, that might sound slightly melodramatic, but imagine working every day on your content, brand, voice, and building your following over the last few years. The feeling of panic and nausea that swept over me when I received an email from the Instagram hackers telling me what had happened was so strong, I thought I might pass out.
And while I take a couple precautions with my account like enabling 2-step verification and occasionally changing my Instagram password, I never actually thought it would happen to me.
It’s basically every influencer’s worst nightmare-to have your Instagram account hacked. My Instagram account was hacked, and stolen right out from under me by Instagram hackers. On Friday afternoon, the unthinkable happened. I’m sharing my personal story of exactly how I had my Instagram account hacked, how you can avoid it and keep your account safe, what to do if your account is hacked, and my thoughts on Instagram’s need to provide better support for its creators. **If you landed on this post because you’ve had your Instagram account hacked, scroll to the bottom of this post for steps on what to do and who to contact to get your account back.**