My Instagram Hack Fight

Introduction

A few days ago I got a message from an Instagram follower to vote for them in some talent competition., the name I won't say in case they have been hacked as well, but she asked me to copy a link that she had sent via a text message. Stupidly I did and then the account got locked, and I was contacted on WhatsApp by someone called Janis Smith from Nigeria purporting to be Instagram Support.

Through all this Instagram / Meta / Facebook are nearly impossible to contact, so scammers, by impersonating Instagram are likely to be initially taken at face value.

This was the message that made me aware that this was part of this elaborate scam, which is odd because my account is a free non-profit one.

I blocked this one immediately.

Then The Nightmare Continued

The whole point about this is that my Instagram account is just something pleasant to have so I can share pictures of the albums I listen to and I do use it on a daily basis and share things with Facebook, Twitter, and maybe Threads.

After the hack, a number of accounts and devices were added to control the account and share Cryptocurrency lies in my story, they also locked me out so I needed a code from an authentication app to get back into the account. The problem is that to use an authentication app, it has to be linked in Instagram and because I couldn't get in without the code I couldn't add it in.

The other option was a backup code, which I was completely unaware of, but your Instagram account has about six backup codes that you can use, but they are stored in Instagram, so if you haven't exported them and saved them somewhere then that is not an option.

You do have the option to "contact support" which gives you the option of sending a video to verify your identity if you have a photograph or an option if you don't have a photograph. The non-photograph option doesn't work so it has to be video.

The thing is, while I think I know what my photograph is, I am not sure how the video matches up.

Submitting A Validation Video To Instagram So Not Easy

So you want to submit a video (you don't have any choice).

First of all, you have to submit your email, any email, I don't think they match it to your Instagram email so that is not very secure.

Then it asks for a six-character validation number.

Enter this and you can then send a short video of your face as account validation.

This worked the first two times but each time I was thrown out when I tried to remove rogue identities. When you are validated you are emailed a single backup code that you can use to get into your account, but you can only use it once.

I am really sorry I have no pictures but I would need to be locked out to take them and when that happens I am more focussed on getting back into Instagram.

Then I went through the whole rigmarole again and each time I was rejected. My main picture has a hat on so I tried a hat. No effect.

Then I put my glasses on and amazingly it was accepted.

I got in and found other accounts added to my Instagram profile so removed and blocked them.

I put dual authorisation on by email and kept getting kicked out but now I could get back in. This morning got an email that dual authorisation had been turned off.

Got in and discovered two more accounts added and a trusted device which was an iPhone. I removed all those and now it looks to have quietened down.

Concluding Observations

Although Instagram is hardly essential to me, the time I have wasted on this affected me while it was happening.

Why these scammers do it I really don't know, apart from being just annoying and wanting to cause problems for others.

Hopefully, that is over and I can have a bit of normality back in my life.

The music is "I Was In The House When The House Burned Down" which is sort of appropriate.