Over the last month many Instagram users had their accounts hacked and taken over. In many instances the hackers changed the username, image and email address associated with the account. Some of the hacked accounts were entirely deleted while in other instances pictures of cartoon characters were inserted as profile pictures. Many of the new email addresses associated with the taken over accounts carried the Russian domain of .ru although if this was the work of Russian hackers, it does not appear to be that of very sophisticated hackers. At this time it is not known what the motive of the hackers was. Many of the victims of the hacking have complained that Instagram has not been particularly helpful in assisting them in restoring their accounts.
TIPS
If your account was hacked and you received an email from Instagram informing you of the change in your email address, you should click on the link marked “revert this change” to revert back to your proper email address. You should then promptly change your password to a new complex password and change your email address to a new and more secure email address. You also should enable dual factor authentication for your account for additional security. For additional tips on what to do if your account was hacked, use this link to the Instagram Help Center. https://help.instagram.com/368191326593075
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and click on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”