Someone publishes something strange and uncharacteristic. It might be a naughty comment, inappropriate video, or controversial opinion. Their fans, friends, and followers may rib them about it. There have been cases where unscrupulous types have hijacked accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms. In such cases, your hacker might send nasty messages to your friends, expose private pictures, or delete all your contacts. There are areas on the Dark Web where people pay for unique usernames.

Hacked Accounts
2. Change Your Passwords
Emails hacked by cybercriminals is a gold mine for personal data and access to all your other accounts. Considering we link everything from online banking to federal taxes with our emails, recovery from a hack is extremely time sensitive. According to the Radicati Email Statistics Report , the number of worldwide email users is set to reach almost 4. What's more, the report predicts that users will collectively send and receive billion messages a day, up from an average of billion in The ubiquitous nature of email combined with its continued growth makes your accounts a tempting target for hackers.
1. Run Your Antivirus Program
If you think your account has been hacked or taken over, there are actions you can take to secure your account. If you received an email from Instagram letting you know that your email address was changed, you may be able to undo this by using the revert this change option in that message. If additional information was also changed example: your password , and you're unable to change back your email address, please report the account to us. To help us confirm that you own the account, you can request that we send a login link to your email address or phone number. If you're unable to recover your account with the security code, please report the account to us. Once you submit your request, you should receive an auto-response email from the Security Team at Instagram asking you to help us verify your identity. You'll be asked for one or both of the following:. A photo of yourself holding a paper with a handwritten code we've provided you. The email address or phone number you signed up with and the type of device you used at the time of sign up example: iPhone, Android, iPad, other.
If you notice unfamiliar activity on your Google Account, Gmail, or other Google products, someone else might be using it without your permission. If you think your Google Account or Gmail have been hacked, follow the steps below to help spot suspicious activity, get back into your account, and make it more secure. Go to the account recovery page , and answer the questions as best you can. These tips can help. With 2-Step Verification, you sign in with:. This is important if you:. If you think your account has suspicious activity, you might need to remove harmful software.