So recently I have been through probably any bloggers worst nightmare! I had my Instagram account hacked and stolen!  They changed my email address, password and also my username.  This meant that I had no access what-so-ever to my account! None, zilch, nada!!

I noticed on a Saturday evening that my Instagram account wasn’t connected with any of my apps and I couldn’t seem to access it on my app.  I tried to sign back in and Instagram told me my account didn’t exist.  That was when I got that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach… Where had my account gone?!  At first, I thought has there been a mix-up and it’s been deleted by Instagram for some reason, but then my partner showed me my account with a different username! I was mortified, I’d had my Instagram account hacked and someone had stolen my account!

I had no way at all to get back into it, I couldn’t reset the password as they had changed my email address and all it was saying was I didn’t have an account associated with my email! Panic! I was fuming at this point as well, I mean why would anyone do this?! It’s definitely a scary feeling when you have your Instagram account hacked.

I quickly put in a report with Instagram and informed them that my account had been hacked and stolen and there was nothing I could do about it.  Getting my account back now rested completely in Instagram’s hands! You can put a report in here if you have had your Instagram account hacked: https://help.instagram.com/

I received an email asking for some more details about what my issue was, what my original email address was and what my username had been changed to.  The emails seemed very automated and non-human shall we say, but on Monday I received an email with a link for me to change my password so I could gain access.  As soon as I did that I went straight to the section to change my email, this was where I saw that my email had been changed to a Russian email.

I was so happy to get access to my account and thankfully they hadn’t posted anything or deleted any images, they had only deleted my bio.  I went to change my username back to secretbeautybox… only to then realise that is was in use!! This was such a horrible feeling.  I quickly searched for the user and found… a Russian girl had taken my username and had started posting some photos! A bit of a coincidence? I don’t think so!

I had to go back to Instagram in the hope they could do something about this.  It was obvious the reason my Instagram account got hacked was so they could steal my username.  So back to my emails I went, and the responses I got seemed automated again and ignored everything I had said.  I didn’t give up I kept emailing and sent them over some proof, including my blog.  I even reported the account through the app saying that it was impersonating me and a couple of friends also reported it for me as well.

I really didn’t think they were going to end up doing anything about it and it was going to be a ‘tough luck’ situation! But low and behold on Wednesday I got a notification on my app saying my report had been resolved and the account in question had been removed! OMG… I was so excited and happy! As soon as I went on Instagram to make sure I got my username back, I noticed that Instagram had done it for me.  Thank you, Instagram! The offending account has now been deleted and they got what they deserved!

I didn’t think it was going to happen as quick as it did, it only took a total of 4/5 days.  Yes it took a few emails and I was wondering if anyone was actually reading what I was writing, but they actually managed to fix everything for me.  Don’t expect any personal responses or them to even acknowledge your name or what you have said, but I can’t fault how they have helped me.  I thought I had lost everything for good and I would have to miraculously become a hacker to get it back! Thankfully I didn’t and my Instagram account can carry on as normal!

I have now set up two-factor authentication, which I didn’t realise you could do.  This is where you will be sent a code to your mobile when you attempt to sign in to your account.  I would definitely recommend setting this up as it add an extra layer of security to your account.

Have you ever experienced this at all? or are you going through this right now? Let me know below.