This is How My Instagram Got Hacked and How You Can Stop It from Happening to You
It is not too late to protect yourself— I wish I knew all that before
Update: I finally got my Instagram account back three weeks after it has been hacked. During the time I lost control, the hackers were able to hack and scam a dozen of my followers.
I thought it was a normal day like any other day. But it turned out to be a very expensive day — it cost me money, my health, and my network.
I am still in pieces, broken up and very emotional about this whole sorry affair. But there is one good thing to come from my absolute nightmare.
Allow me to tell you what happened and teach you how not to make the same mistake as me.
Having over 4000 followers, I had been building up my audience for over six years. They are all gone now. A few short hours are all it took for the scammers to hack my account and steal thousands of dollars from me and my followers.
I have detailed all the steps of how my Instagram got hacked, and my money robbed. Read on so that it doesn’t happen to you.
The hook
One day I was scrolling through my Instagram feeds. As usual, I glazed over at the screen. One post on the wall of my ex-John caught my eye.
It read:
“Amazing, I invested $500 and made $10,000 in one day, thanks to my mentor.”
My mind started to spin, and I was in awe. Great job John, I thought!
I thought of what I would do with all that money. Little did I know I was like a fish in the water staring at the bait and within a short while I was going to get hooked.
I had never heard of Cybercrime or Social Engineering before. So, it was the furthest thing from my mind.
After all, it was a post from my ex, and it looked like he had posted it — nothing odd or suspicious. It wasn’t an advert or anything like that.
Because he was my ex, I know him very well. He is one of the most trustworthy people on this planet. Plus, every other post on there looked 100% normal and genuine. There was nothing to suggest anything was out of the ordinary.
As a responsible adult ready to invest, I wanted to trust the Universe and take the risk.
I took the bait and contacted his ‘mentor.’
Her expert fraudulent choice of language seduced me.
We started to communicate. All she wanted was a 10% commission in exchange for her help. She used emotional, trustworthy words like “ promise me” or “try and take some time with your family.”
I was getting more hooked by the second, thinking about all the presents I could give to my friends and family.
I told her that she would have to wait until I had saved up the money. It took me three weeks to save my hard-earned cash.
In the meantime, she did reach out to me a few times. But she was so patient and understanding. I was in no doubt whatsoever that she was anything but genuine.
When I had finally saved up the cash, I got back in touch with her.
It was 6pm on a Tuesday night.
She suggested that I download a cash app and put $500 in there.
She wanted me to take screenshots each step of the way. Then she could encircle what I had to do to make the entire process easy for me.
I thought I was in good hands, feeling safe and well guided. I knew nothing about the world of crypto and she gave me full confidence in the process.
I invested $500 into the cash app. And then, she made me send the money to a link that she gave me.
Yes, I was nervous, but I was praying that this was legitimate, while I kept telling myself. “It is only money!”
Little did I know what was to come, and it was going to be a hell of a lot more than ‘only’ money.
Next up was a link that she sent me to a crypto website.
I had to fill in my information to withdraw my money.
With extreme care and attention, I filled everything in.
I remember thinking to myself, “I mustn’t make any mistakes. I want my investment back.” I was completely unaware that this website was malware.
Malware means MALicious softWARE. It gives unauthorized access and infects the computer you used to login.
Malware steals and harms data and confidential information. It is illegal, fraudulent, obtrusive, hostile, and downright nasty. Fraudsters create them to invade, harm, or disable hardware that they infect.
There are several types––Ransomware, Trojans (yes like the Trojan horse), Adware, Spyware, and Viruses. Check it out!
A lot of the time, the consumer doesn’t realize that malware has entered and harmed their devices.
She asked me to refresh the page 3 hours later.
I went for dinner with a friend and came back around 11pm. I refreshed the page and as if by magic, the sum of $10,000 appeared right before my very own eyes.
I couldn’t think straight. My mind was in a whirl. I was shaking from head to toe, and I had to calm myself down.
I made it, I thought!
The hacker (this “lady”) congratulated me and asked me to wait for an email from ‘the company.’ That would explain how to withdraw the funds.
It was the first thing that sounded a little bit weird — the way she said the words, “the company.”
But still, I kept believing. I couldn’t contemplate that something was amiss.
The email I received was in very bad English.
The instructions were for me to deposit $1000 and it would enable me to unlock $3000.
Hang on I thought. This would result in me only earning $1500.
To make things even worse, I felt stupid — I didn’t have an extra $1000.
Disappointed, I spoke with her. “You told me nothing previous to this about paying anything extra to unlock my funds,” I said.
“How much money do you have?” She enquired.
“$200!”
“Ok, you can pay that, and I will contact ‘the company’ and tell them to unlock the funds.”
It was as if she was doing me a favor, so I carried out the same procedure and sent the money to the cash app as I had done before.
The next thing I knew, she asked me, “When can you send the remaining $800?”
I replied, “In one month.”
“Can you ask any friends or family for the money?” She asked me.
“No, I can’t,” I replied.
“Ok, hold then. ‘The company’ will send you a pin number so that you can unlock the funds now.”
I finally felt relieved. Falsely I might add.
This is where the true nightmare starts.
She had found my phone number by checking out my Instagram, then proceeded to send me a link to my phone. Or at least I presumed it was her that sent it.
“Can you please take a screenshot, but DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK!” She asked me.
Being naive, I did what she asked.
I did not realize that it was Instagram that had sent me the link. The message was so small. At this point, it was past midnight and I just wanted to finish fast and go to bed.
When a human being is in a state of tiredness, the vision actually changes. The brain is not taking much notice of small things in front of you — i.e. short messages from Instagram.
I received a PIN Number via SMS and she wanted it.
“Can you now send that pin number over to me please?”
It was supposed to be the PIN to unlock my funds. So, what did I do? I sent it! That is when I received a warning from Instagram.
“Someone is trying to log into your Instagram from NYC! Is it you?”
I was about to press ‘NO!’ But alas it was too late. Instagram had locked me out. Now I couldn’t get any access to it.
It only took a moment. They had changed the phone number associated with my Instagram. Now it was a number originating from Nigeria (+234).
After this happened, I couldn’t work out why I didn’t notice I was being hacked.
The penny had finally dropped — it was bigger than only money!
Immediately, I logged on from my secondary Instagram account and contacted the lady who had scammed me.
“Oh, you can’t log on and access your Instagram account? Hang on ‘the company’ will contact you” she said.
Did they contact me? Yes! Only to ask me for more money, to unhack my Instagram!
This was like watching a slow car crash unfolding in front of me. With that, the realization of the consequences was staring me straight in the face.
There was no time to sleep — I had to have clear thoughts.
All those passwords I needed to change. And change them sharpish. I was on a mission.
I used every bit of logical brain power I had––I worked out 117 website passwords to change. Social media accounts to emails, work automation tools to personal websites, finance, etc.
How had I got myself in this mess? That didn’t matter now. I was in it, and I needed to carry out damage limitation and be lightning-fast about it.
As you would be aware, even if you are under no stress, feeling at your best, changing a few can be hard enough.
The dreaded paranoia had started setting in. And with that panic attacks, lack of sleep, no food, and immense stress. I was beginning to even hallucinate.
Still, I needed to get a grip and try and sort this mess out before they could get hold of any more of my private information.
I had to freeze all my bank accounts for safety so, I’m still reeling from the experience of it all.
The scam now coming from my Instagram
Yes, you have guessed it. This scammer had now put that original post that I answered on my ex’s IG on my IG, pretending to be me.
And so, the cycle continues.
Some people from my network got caught up and sent money, lost money, and had their IG hacked. Like me.
Lucky enough, over 2/3 of my Instagram followers were fake. I bought them 6 years ago when I was starting my business. 1000 were real though — 1000 potential victims.
Some of my friends, noticing the strange posts on my wall, started to contact me. So, I had to deal with the overflow of calls, messages from friends and clients.
All of that was very overwhelming. This was my professional IG and I feared for my reputation.
Moral of the story? Cryptocurrency scams are all over Instagram, with hackers impersonating your trusted connections.
If you think you are safe, think twice. And if one of your trusted connections promotes any cryptocurrency investment, it is undoubtedly a sign of a scam.
In another article, I have highlighted all the measures you need to take to secure your key information, including your Instagram. Read through and please take action now. Prevention is better than cure.
If you were following my Instagram, know that this was not me who was talking to you behind my name. I’ve now changed my Instagram account and currently rethinking my social media strategy.