A hacked Instagram or hacked Facebook can be nightmare. For a business owner, creator, or entrepreneur it is equivalent to someone robbing your entire store. In 2022, social media is the way to grow, connect and stay up to date with new trends.
However, attempting to stay connected and collaborate or hire over the internet could leave to compromising your brand. I was a victim of Instagram hack and Facebook hack in 2021 and 2022. I regained access to both pages in 2022.
One morning I received a message alert from what looked like Instagram. The alert warned me of a copyright infringement and had me click on a link to dispute it. Although, I could not remember what caused the violation, I was eager to solve the issue. Especially, since I was part of Instagram’s creator program. As soon as I clicked the link to dispute, my account was taken. I received another email from Instagram saying there was a new login and to secure my account. However, when I clicked to secure my account, the link did not work. Next thing I know the hackers changed my name and deleted my photo. Fortunately, Instagram provided me with the updated information. Therefore, I had the new email and username that was updated on my account.
I attempted to do a password reset but the hacker had turned on google authenticator. At this point I entered a ticket to Instagram using both of these links below.
https://help.instagram.com/contact/1652567838289083
https://help.instagram.com/contact/272476913194545
I uploaded the documents they requested and received an email from an Instagram representative to send them the information by email. The downside to that is when I did no one got back to me or resolved my issue.
My next step was doing the forget password technique and doing the video selfie. However, the video selfie kept crashing until I updated my Instagram app to the Instagram Beta app.
Note, I did not enter my original username when do the forgot password I used the updated username sent to my email by Instagram.
Once I did the video verification it took less than a day for Instagram to evaluate and send me a code to get back into my account.
The biggest reason they were able to get me back into my hacked account is because had photos of myself on my page.
In regard to Facebook, after waiting over 9 months for a video review to have my personal Facebook page cleared from deactivation, I purchased Facebook portal from Amazon. I used this link to chat with portal, Portal Support | Portal from Facebook.
They had me do a video again and upload household bills that had my name on it. It took them less than 3 days to reactivate my Facebook personal page. If I would have known purchasing the Facebook portal would get me a chat representative instead of 9 months of automated responses, then I would have done so earlier.
Finally, to get my Facebook business page back, I had to set up a business manager account, which is different from and ads manager account. Then I had to run an ad. I chose to run an ad for 5 bucks on a new business page I was growing.
Within two days I received the chat box to speak with a representative in case I had any issues.
The representative finally gave me full admin access to my page. Unfortunately, the hacker blocked my personal page from the business page. In order to access it the business page I copied the business page ID and send an invite to another trusted account to have full admin access to the page so that I could be unblocked.
If there is any additional advice I could give to prepare in case you become a victim of a hacked Instagram or hacked Facebook, take a screenshot of your Facebook ad account number and business ID as soon as you set up your Facebook business page. This helps Facebook review the account management history better. Make sure you have photos and videos of yourself on both platforms. No matter what business you run, even if it is a motivational quote page, include photos of yourself. If you have to use your photo as watermark on your quotes or whatever it is that you are doing.
Hope this helps someone resolve their hacked Instagram or hacked Facebook issue. Do not pay money to get your page back you can do it for free, other than buying Facebook portal if necessary or running an ad if necessary.
