What I learned from having my Instagram hacked.

When I started freelancing, I decided it would be a good idea to create a business Instagram account. This was mainly to build relationships with like-minded individuals and to show off what I can do. I spent a lot of time creating posts, captions and engaging with others on there. Over a few months, I had built up almost 200 followers completely organically. That may not seem like much, but to me, I was really pleased with my work.

Looking back on how I got hacked makes me think, how could I have not seen straight through it. I’m not the sort of person who falls for scams. In fact, I don’t think I have ever had anything hacked before now. But it just proves that this can happen to any of us, and hopefully, my mistakes can help someone else from falling for it.

I had a message from my younger cousin, saying that she needed my help with something. This was out of the ordinary, but I didn’t think anything of it and agreed to help her. My cousin is a teenager, which is why I didn’t see any suspicion in the very late messages and the blunt replies. That’s how she messages me usually.

I hadn’t noticed that my account had been hacked until the afternoon the next day when I tried to log in and I couldn’t. After realising my account had been hacked, I quickly went to the Instagram Help Centre. Which may I add, is completely useless. I tried every step I could to get my account back but nothing worked. The hacker had not only changed the username and password, they had changed all of the personal contact details, so I had no way of getting back in.

What to look out for:

• Receiving DM’s at weird times of the day.

• Them asking you to send them links or personal information

• Them asking you to add other numbers/email addresses into your account

• Recently changing their username

What I’ve learned going forward:

• If someone sends you an out-of-ordinary DM and you know them, give them a call to ensure it's actually them.

• Never send your number, email address, or any other personal information over a DM.

• Never send a code/link you receive to anyone.

• Have double authentication set up

• Keep an eye out for the emails that tell you someone is trying to sign into your account.

Now you may be thinking, I’d never fall for that! But, this happens every single day. And as much as I’m gutted to lose all the hard work I had put into the account, I am grateful for the experience, because I know for sure I will never fall for this again. I would rather this happen now and not 5 years down the line.

Remember, not everyone you speak to online is who you think they are. I hope you can learn something from my mistake.