Hacked Instagram account: how to get it back fast

How to tell your Instagram has been hacked

• Your password no longer works, or you were logged out for no reason.
• You received an email from Instagram about an email, phone or password change.
• Your username, profile photo or bio has changed.
• Stories, posts or DMs you never sent appear, often promoting a fake crypto scheme or “investment”.
• Your followers receive messages asking for a code, a vote or money.

Step 1: reverse the change from your email

When someone changes the email address on your account, Instagram usually sends a message to your old address. That message often offers a way to reverse the change and secure the account.

1. Open your inbox and look for a recent email from Instagram (check spam too).
2. Make sure the sender is an official Instagram domain: hackers fake these emails as well.
3. Use the reverse link, then set a new password right away.

If your email account itself was hacked, secure it first (new password, two-factor authentication), or the hacker will take Instagram back straight away.

Step 2: Instagram’s official recovery page

1. On the device you normally use for Instagram, open instagram.com/hacked, or in the app tap “Forgot password?” and then the login help option.
2. Say your account was hacked and enter your username, email or phone number.
3. Instagram may send you a login link or code by email or SMS. If you no longer have access to those, look for the option that says so.
4. Instagram may then ask you to confirm your identity, for example with a video selfie where you turn your head in different directions. This works better if your face appears in your photos.
5. Complete every step and keep an eye on your inbox: the answer can take a while.

Instagram’s screens change often. If the menus do not match exactly, the official Instagram Help Center is the reference.

Step 3: lock your account down once it is back

In Accounts Center (usually: Profile, menu, Accounts Center, Password and security):

1. Change your password to a long, unique one.
2. Check the email and phone number on the account and remove anything you do not recognise.
3. Log out unknown devices under “Where you’re logged in”.
4. Turn on two-factor authentication, preferably with an authentication app, and save your backup codes.
5. Remove third-party apps you did not authorise.
6. Restore your username, bio and photo, delete the hacker’s posts and review your sent messages.

If your username was changed and someone else has since taken the old one, you may not be able to get it back. That is one more reason to have an official link that does not depend on a single network.

Do this right now: checklist

• Find Instagram’s email and reverse the address change.
• Start the process at instagram.com/hacked.
• Secure your email account, and your Facebook account if it is linked to Instagram.
• Change any identical password you use elsewhere.
• Warn your followers and customers through another channel: WhatsApp status, Facebook, SMS, your official page.
• Screenshot the hacker’s posts and messages.
• If anyone sent money to the hacker, tell them to contact their bank or mobile money provider quickly.
• Turn down any “hacker” offering to recover your account for a fee: it is a scam.

Prevent another hack

• Two-factor authentication on Instagram and on your email.
• Up-to-date recovery email and phone, in your name, that you can actually access.
• Beware of fake Instagram messages: “copyright violation”, “your account will be deleted”, “blue badge application”. Instagram never asks for your password in a DM. When in doubt, do not click, and check from inside the app.
• Never share a code you receive by SMS, even with a friend who says they “sent it by mistake”.
• Avoid “who viewed my profile” or “get more followers” apps that ask you to log in.

How My Official Links protects your audience

When an Instagram account is hacked, the hacker keeps your followers and speaks in your name. Your customers no longer know who to trust, especially if fake accounts are copying your name at the same time.

With My Official Links, your official link lists all your real accounts and numbers, and you keep it even if Instagram slips out of your hands. Post a clear alert on it (“Our Instagram has been hacked, here are our only official contacts”) and share it everywhere.

If your page is certified, each verified account was checked by adding your page link to its bio. Your customers can paste a link or username into Check an account to see whether it belongs to a certified page. Let us know about the hack through the report form too. If you remove a verified account from your page, the certification may be paused until it is verified again, so a badge never vouches for a hacked account.

My Official Links is not affiliated with Meta or Instagram and cannot recover your account. It helps your customers avoid mistakes while you recover it. If a fake profile is copying you, read how to report a fake Instagram account.