What To Do, If Your Social Media Account Is Hacked?

Social Media Account Is Hacked – Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, and WhatsApp, have you noticed suspicious activity, or are you no longer able to log in to your account? This may be the work of a hacker who accesses it without your knowledge. What should you do if one of your social media accounts has been hacked or suspected of being hacked? Reset your password, check your recent connection history, remove unrecognized devices from your account…

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What Does Hacking A Social Media Account Involve?

To access their social networks, the account owner logs in using login credentials: the email address and telephone number or the username and a password. This can be a personal or professional account, depending on its use. Today, installed in the personal uses of Internet users but also in the professional uses of companies, social networks are not immune to malicious activities: account hacking, fraud, identity theft, blackmail, theft of information, cyber harassment, disinformation, defamation, etc. are all dangers faced by users of these networks.

Hacking an account on social networks refers to its takeover by a malicious individual to the detriment of its legitimate owner, generally with the aim of stealing personal, professional, and banking information for fraudulent use: resale of data, identity theft, fraudulent transactions, etc. In some instances, the hacker may also try to take possession of the account to demand a ransom from its owner to give him access or carry out other malicious actions.

For example, sending spam or phishing messages or publishing illegal content. In practice, the attacker was able to obtain access to the account in several ways: a password perhaps too easy to guess, the use of the same password on several sites, one of which was hacked, or even following a phishing message or, in some instances, the presence of a password-stealing virus on one of the victim’s equipment.

What Are The Signs That Should Attract Your Attention?

Have you noticed suspicious activity on one of your social media accounts? Are you no longer able to log in to your account? Although an account hack is not always easy to identify, sure signs or anomalies should draw your attention. Here is a list of the main clues that may indicate that you may be the victim of a social media account hack:

you are no longer able to log in to your account with your credentials
you notice messages or calls in your exchanges of which you are not the author
you receive messages the nature of which you do not understand or in response to a message that you did not send
people claim to have received messages from you that you are not the author of;
you find publications or stories on your account published or deleted without your knowledge
you receive a notification that indicates an attempt to log in to your account from a device, location, or IP address that you do not know
you notice the presence of a device that you do not know in your connection history
personal information (last name, first name, date of birth, telephone number, etc.) or your account settings have been modified without your knowledge
you realize that contacts have been added or deleted from your account without your consent

Why Can Hacking A Social Media Account Have Serious Consequences?

The difficulty with account hacking is to realize that you are a victim quickly. Indeed, most of the time, the people concerned become aware of it by accidentally discovering that they are victims of harm. However, hacking an account on social networks can have significant or even dire consequences :

Hacking of your other accounts (email, other social networks, administrative sites, online commerce platforms, etc.) if the victim uses the same password on different sites or if they use their hacked social network account to connect to them.
Identity theft: Social media accounts are full of personal information that the attacker can use for fraudulent purposes, such as trying to defraud your friends or family by pretending to be you.

Hacked Social Media Accounts, What To Do?

General Measures

Generally speaking, several measures should be applied in the event of a hacked social media account:

Change the password: if you think you have been a victim of hacking of one of your social network accounts, reset the compromised password for your account and all the sites where you used it as quickly as possible by ensuring you choose a strong new password that you don’t use on any other site. All our advice for adequately managing your passwords.
Enable double authentication, also called “two-step validation,” if available: this feature will ask you for a confirmation code, transmitted, for example, by SMS, each time a new device attempts to connect to your account.
Prevent contacts from your hacked account so that they do not become victims of cybercriminals in turn.
Alert your bank and monitor your bank accounts for any suspicious transactions that are not your origin.
File a complaint: depending on the specific case and the damage suffered, several offenses may be brought against the attackers (computer hacking, breach of confidentiality of correspondence, identity theft, fraud, etc.).

If you can no longer log in to one of your social media accounts and you suspect it has been hacked, contact the relevant social network’s customer service to report your hack and request a password reset. Below is a list of the leading social networks used in India. Contact your social network’s customer service directly if it is not on this list. The procedures to be applied vary from one service to another.

Facebook Account Hack

How to know if a Facebook account is hacked? To help you qualify your problem, Facebook has made an online diagnostic tool available to its users: Help with a hacked account.
Have you had your Facebook account hacked? The social network offers an online security tool to reconnect to your account and regain control: My account has been hacked.
If you can still log in to your account, you will be asked to change your Facebook password and check recent login activities on your account to protect access.
If you can no longer connect to your Facebook account, you will need to go through the account recovery procedure and be able to prove that you are the legitimate owner: Help with a hacked account.
Please note that to improve the security level of your account, Facebook suggests applying the following protocol: Run the security check. These measures will allow you to learn how to protect your passwords, enable double-authentication, and receive alerts when a third party tries to log in to your account.

Instagram Account Hack

What to do if your Instagram account is hacked? The social network has implemented a series of measures to help you secure your account: I believe my Instagram account has been hacked. Depending on the type of account you want to recover (personal, professional, etc.), some of the recommendations may not be applicable. Instagram nevertheless recommends trying them all.

To regain access to your account and thus confirm to Instagram that you are the rightful owner, the social network also recommends going to the “Get help logging in” or “Forgot your password?” page. » from the login screen. Then follow the instructions.

LinkedIn Social Media Account Is Hacked

Whether you can still access your LinkedIn account or not, if you think you are the victim of an account hack, contact LinkedIn as soon as possible by filling out the following form: Reporting your account hacked. After receiving the form, the social network will verify your account and then help you regain access.
Once access to your LinkedIn account has been regained, the social network recommends checking your recent activity and interactions during the period when your account was compromised – recent relationships, subscriptions, messages, posts, comments, likes, etc. – and deleting what does not come from you. To strengthen the security of your account and limit the risk of hacking, the social network also suggests enabling two-step verification.

Snapchat Social Media Account Is Hacked

If you think your account has been hacked, but you can still access it, Snapchat recommends changing your password as soon as possible: Request a password reset link via text or email. Also, be sure to check in your Snapchat settings that the phone number and email address associated with your account are the correct ones.
If your Snapchat account has been hacked and you can no longer access it, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the social network’s support by filling out the dedicated form.
The social network has also made available to its users a series of preventive tips to ensure their security on Snapchat: Security on Snapchat. Among the best practices proposed are how to choose a reliable password or how to activate double authentication.

TikTok Social Media Account Is Hacked

Do you think someone hacked your TikTok account? Refer to the instructions issued by the social network to recover your account, protect it, reset your password, associate your phone number with your account, or even delete suspicious devices: My account has been hacked.
You can also find other curative and preventive measures on the following page: Account security.

Twitter Social Media Account Is Hacked

If your account has been compromised, but you can still log in, the following steps will help you secure it and stop unwanted behavior: Help with Compromised Accounts.
If you think your account has been hacked and you can’t log in with your username and password, contact Twitter support to reset your password and request further assistance. If necessary, what to do if your account has been hacked?
In order to help you preserve the security of your Twitter account, the social network has grouped all the best practices to adopt on a dedicated support page: About account security.

WhatsApp Social Media Account Is Hacked

Are there any signals leading you to believe that you are the victim of a hack on your WhatsApp account? The social network details the procedure to follow to recover your account: About stolen accounts. In particular, you will be asked to verify the associated telephone number.
To help you secure your account, WhatsApp suggests applying the advice available on its page: “Tips for account security.” The social network recommends, in particular, applying two-step verification.

Social Media Account Is Hacked – Why And How To File A Complaint?

Hacking a social media account is computer hacking. This is an offense punishable by the penal code. Depending on the specific case, several offenses may, in fact, be retained, such as fraudulent access to an automated data processing system ( article 323-1 of the penal code) or breach of the secrecy of correspondence ( article 226-15 of the penal code).

It is therefore recommended to file a complaint in the event of hacking of a social network account. To do this, go to the police station or gendarmerie brigade where you belong with all the evidence you have (screenshots, etc.). If you are an individual, you can also get support from a victim support association by contacting France Victimes on 116 006 (free call and service).

For Further

To find out more about the reflexes to adopt in the event of account hacking, how to protect yourself from it, and what offenses can be committed in this context, consult our reflex sheet dedicated to account hacking.