I do hope this hasn’t deterred you from Instagram. I enjoyed looking at all your photos. As soon as I saw the recent posts I knew you’d been hacked.
I think what’s happened is a strong reminder to us all that we have no control over a site controlled by someone else. They don’t represent our interests; only we have our own best interests at heart.
This happened to me a couple of months ago. An Instagram friend direct messaged me asking me to help me get them back into their locked out account. The request was to take a photo of the message and send it back to them. This was the bitcoiner’s way in and I lost my account immediately. It was just an account for posting photos of days out and not work related. I had about 200 followers. Despite filling in 2 report forms to Meta I heard nothing. I was very upset and felt invaded. I recently decided to set up a new account. It’s not the same and I don’t have the same enthusiasm for ‘growing’ my account but I have an account should I wish to use it. Meanwhile my old account of 5 years sits there in abeyance and unattainable. I am still very annoyed with myself at the lack of attention I paid to the DM I received. At the time I sent warnings to all my account followers (through another Ig friend’s account) I also warned people via my other social media accounts. I feel I tried my best to prevent others falling victim to the same scam. The bitcoiners also contacted my daughters - and I don’t even follow them on social media. I would say set up a new account if and when you’re ready but it just won’t be the same as your old one.
This is such an awful story. And so common. It happened to me on Facebook. I lost 6 years of contacts and posts for my ceramics business overnight. They changed my password and email and I was locked out. They never posted anything, they just closed me down. They were looking for access to my bank account and when they didn't find it because I had never bought anything through Facebook they moved on. It felt like a violation. I never managed to get back in or close the page either which is almost worse as it makes me look like I’m no longer trading. In the end, a year later I tentatively started again with a slightly different but extremely similar name and an explanation which I pinned at the top. This was mainly because I needed to be able to join groups for events for my work and I wouldn’t receive important and relevant information without it. To be honest I am over the whole facebook thing now and I only have a presence for this purpose. But I would have been even more devastated if it had been instagram which is my preferred platform. My advice to anyone would be NEVER to buy anything through Instagram or Facebook. Go direct to the website if you want to buy something. And do start again Susy but only when you feel ready because you have a lot to say and show and Instagram is a lovely medium to do this when it works. Don’t let them beat you. In the end it’s just stuff and none of it really matters, but it’s a truly horrible experience. X
I thought it was a strange post from you . I had a near escape with fraud yesterday doing car tax . It asked for registration- found my car , wanted my email , then card number . But I could not find the drop down box for the 6 month/ 12 month . Tried it twice then it went to bank which sent me automated message not to reveal the code to anyone I did not recognise . At that point I realised . Completed car tax on the official one from the letter . Then panicked: this illegitimate company had my registration and all my bank details and address. So straight to Lloyds to cancel the card . I moved money into my savings account just in case . They were so helpful. Narrow escape .
The post was clearly very strange and not from you - instagram is great when it works and I’m sure by sharing, your followers will find you again on a new instagram account…hope you do decide to open another set of squares - always lovely to see your pictures and comments.
I'm so sorry this has happened to you. So distressing for you. And your account is so beautiful. Such a violation and the frustration of not being able to do anything about it must be awful. This happened to a friend of mine recently and, although it took time, eventually she was able to recover her account. I'll get in touch with her to see how she contacted the insta people. She also mentioned that in settings, you can switch on 2-factor authentication so that anyone attempting to sign in should be thwarted because they would need a code, which would be sent to your phone/email. Not foolproof I don't suppose but helpful. I've turned mine on since discovering this but perhaps you already had it turned on. I do hope there's a way for you to get your account back. Would be so sad for you to have lost everything. And we would all miss you! Let me see if I can find some contact details from my friend.
Oh Susie! I did wonder about your "change of content" and thought it did not fit your usual content, or your personality! But I figured who was I to judge if you had changed the way you engaged and your content, so I let it pass. I am so sorry this has happened, it's a violation of your personal space, your intellectual property, and your privacy, its truly awful. I have heard before about how impossible it is to get help from Instagram, which is also terrible. I hope you find a way to resolve it! X
Listen allow me advice you to be very careful when you come to sections like this, scammers now come here claiming they got helped by a hacker they claim is the best meanwhile they are fake! i fortunately came across a man on Twitter who introduced me to bohdanbohdan93 @ mail . ru this Uzbekistan expert helped me recover both my business Facebook and Instagram accounts professionally and easy in 48hours .. anybody different from this man i am not sure they legit i hope he doesn't find it offensive i mentioned him publicly
I absolutely knew you wouldn’t be posting about how amazing bitcoin is!!! These people are thieves, stealers of other peoples lives and I can imagine how infuriating that must be!!! I shall enjoy reading your writings here for now x
Hi Susy, I realised as soon as I saw your post what had happened. Really horrible and stressful for you. My partner fell for exactly the same scam a couple of months ago, was really furious with himself as he's quite techy and alert to these things but it just shows, as you said, how easily one can get tricked. I don't know if it's of any help but he did recover his account. He had very identifiable images on his feed which meant he was able to verify himself via facial recognition. (I know your posts are mainly of your garden but maybe there's a pic of you somewhere). Anyway, with verification he was able to change the account name and password back to his own. I'm hoping that all is not lost for your account. Don't give up! Kate x
Oh Suzy I am so sorry. I saw the post on Instagram yesterday and knew you'd been hacked but didn't realise it was impossible to get your own account back. It's time Instagram / Facebook started looking after the innocent people instead of letting the hackers cause such distress.
Please set up a new instagram account. I loved seeing your photos of your garden and I am sure we will all share the new account and help spread the word to our little groups of friends.
I can understand all the horrible feelings you are going through - it's like a personal attack but hopefully you will find out that there are lots of lots of wonderful people out there who love hearing your news and who will continue to follow you on whatever platform you choose. Try and keep smiling.
So very sad to hear this.... must admit I noticed "your" post about Bitcoin investing and how you'd 'bought a lovely new electric car' with your profits made from it!!🙄 Do hope you get it sorted. 🙏🏻🌈
I did think it very out-of-character to buy a flashy new car. And I had been listening to a report about The Crypto Queen who has absconded with everyone's investments and never been tracked down. I think in terms of substack I would pick myself up and start again, as you haven't been doing it for very long, but this time I would save my work elsewhere, too, on my desktop perhaps. It's far more galling to have lost all your previous posts on gardening and daily life. Most iphone post pics to facebook at the same time as instagram (though mine doesn't as it's a cheap version) but if you don't use facebook, then that would not have been done. Might some have sync'd to your photos folder? I might be clutching at straws here. You have had a run of bad luck, so things must get better. Kitty
This is dreadful and a timely warning about these appalling scammers. I saw it on Instagram and assumed it was someone else with the same name, as it was so unlike your usual posts! So sorry you've had this awful trauma. Really hope some of the assistance offered is helpful. Meanwhile, we're all rooting for you. Jenny x
I do hope you decide to give Instagram another go. Your photos and videos of your garden/family/dog and holidays would be greatly missed if you decide not to.
Perhaps you could cover the subject in your next article in Country Living Magazine. I'm sure you would get your followers back. Don't let these evil people win!
I do hope this hasn’t deterred you from Instagram. I enjoyed looking at all your photos. As soon as I saw the recent posts I knew you’d been hacked.
I think what’s happened is a strong reminder to us all that we have no control over a site controlled by someone else. They don’t represent our interests; only we have our own best interests at heart.
This happened to me a couple of months ago. An Instagram friend direct messaged me asking me to help me get them back into their locked out account. The request was to take a photo of the message and send it back to them. This was the bitcoiner’s way in and I lost my account immediately. It was just an account for posting photos of days out and not work related. I had about 200 followers. Despite filling in 2 report forms to Meta I heard nothing. I was very upset and felt invaded. I recently decided to set up a new account. It’s not the same and I don’t have the same enthusiasm for ‘growing’ my account but I have an account should I wish to use it. Meanwhile my old account of 5 years sits there in abeyance and unattainable. I am still very annoyed with myself at the lack of attention I paid to the DM I received. At the time I sent warnings to all my account followers (through another Ig friend’s account) I also warned people via my other social media accounts. I feel I tried my best to prevent others falling victim to the same scam. The bitcoiners also contacted my daughters - and I don’t even follow them on social media. I would say set up a new account if and when you’re ready but it just won’t be the same as your old one.
This is such an awful story. And so common. It happened to me on Facebook. I lost 6 years of contacts and posts for my ceramics business overnight. They changed my password and email and I was locked out. They never posted anything, they just closed me down. They were looking for access to my bank account and when they didn't find it because I had never bought anything through Facebook they moved on. It felt like a violation. I never managed to get back in or close the page either which is almost worse as it makes me look like I’m no longer trading. In the end, a year later I tentatively started again with a slightly different but extremely similar name and an explanation which I pinned at the top. This was mainly because I needed to be able to join groups for events for my work and I wouldn’t receive important and relevant information without it. To be honest I am over the whole facebook thing now and I only have a presence for this purpose. But I would have been even more devastated if it had been instagram which is my preferred platform. My advice to anyone would be NEVER to buy anything through Instagram or Facebook. Go direct to the website if you want to buy something. And do start again Susy but only when you feel ready because you have a lot to say and show and Instagram is a lovely medium to do this when it works. Don’t let them beat you. In the end it’s just stuff and none of it really matters, but it’s a truly horrible experience. X
I thought it was a strange post from you . I had a near escape with fraud yesterday doing car tax . It asked for registration- found my car , wanted my email , then card number . But I could not find the drop down box for the 6 month/ 12 month . Tried it twice then it went to bank which sent me automated message not to reveal the code to anyone I did not recognise . At that point I realised . Completed car tax on the official one from the letter . Then panicked: this illegitimate company had my registration and all my bank details and address. So straight to Lloyds to cancel the card . I moved money into my savings account just in case . They were so helpful. Narrow escape .
The post was clearly very strange and not from you - instagram is great when it works and I’m sure by sharing, your followers will find you again on a new instagram account…hope you do decide to open another set of squares - always lovely to see your pictures and comments.
I'm so sorry this has happened to you. So distressing for you. And your account is so beautiful. Such a violation and the frustration of not being able to do anything about it must be awful. This happened to a friend of mine recently and, although it took time, eventually she was able to recover her account. I'll get in touch with her to see how she contacted the insta people. She also mentioned that in settings, you can switch on 2-factor authentication so that anyone attempting to sign in should be thwarted because they would need a code, which would be sent to your phone/email. Not foolproof I don't suppose but helpful. I've turned mine on since discovering this but perhaps you already had it turned on. I do hope there's a way for you to get your account back. Would be so sad for you to have lost everything. And we would all miss you! Let me see if I can find some contact details from my friend.
Oh Susie! I did wonder about your "change of content" and thought it did not fit your usual content, or your personality! But I figured who was I to judge if you had changed the way you engaged and your content, so I let it pass. I am so sorry this has happened, it's a violation of your personal space, your intellectual property, and your privacy, its truly awful. I have heard before about how impossible it is to get help from Instagram, which is also terrible. I hope you find a way to resolve it! X
Listen allow me advice you to be very careful when you come to sections like this, scammers now come here claiming they got helped by a hacker they claim is the best meanwhile they are fake! i fortunately came across a man on Twitter who introduced me to bohdanbohdan93 @ mail . ru this Uzbekistan expert helped me recover both my business Facebook and Instagram accounts professionally and easy in 48hours .. anybody different from this man i am not sure they legit i hope he doesn't find it offensive i mentioned him publicly
I absolutely knew you wouldn’t be posting about how amazing bitcoin is!!! These people are thieves, stealers of other peoples lives and I can imagine how infuriating that must be!!! I shall enjoy reading your writings here for now x
Hi Susy, I realised as soon as I saw your post what had happened. Really horrible and stressful for you. My partner fell for exactly the same scam a couple of months ago, was really furious with himself as he's quite techy and alert to these things but it just shows, as you said, how easily one can get tricked. I don't know if it's of any help but he did recover his account. He had very identifiable images on his feed which meant he was able to verify himself via facial recognition. (I know your posts are mainly of your garden but maybe there's a pic of you somewhere). Anyway, with verification he was able to change the account name and password back to his own. I'm hoping that all is not lost for your account. Don't give up! Kate x
The hackers just sent me a DM asking me to vote for you :-(
I told them about themselves!
Oh Suzy I am so sorry. I saw the post on Instagram yesterday and knew you'd been hacked but didn't realise it was impossible to get your own account back. It's time Instagram / Facebook started looking after the innocent people instead of letting the hackers cause such distress.
Please set up a new instagram account. I loved seeing your photos of your garden and I am sure we will all share the new account and help spread the word to our little groups of friends.
I can understand all the horrible feelings you are going through - it's like a personal attack but hopefully you will find out that there are lots of lots of wonderful people out there who love hearing your news and who will continue to follow you on whatever platform you choose. Try and keep smiling.
So very sad to hear this.... must admit I noticed "your" post about Bitcoin investing and how you'd 'bought a lovely new electric car' with your profits made from it!!🙄 Do hope you get it sorted. 🙏🏻🌈
I did think it very out-of-character to buy a flashy new car. And I had been listening to a report about The Crypto Queen who has absconded with everyone's investments and never been tracked down. I think in terms of substack I would pick myself up and start again, as you haven't been doing it for very long, but this time I would save my work elsewhere, too, on my desktop perhaps. It's far more galling to have lost all your previous posts on gardening and daily life. Most iphone post pics to facebook at the same time as instagram (though mine doesn't as it's a cheap version) but if you don't use facebook, then that would not have been done. Might some have sync'd to your photos folder? I might be clutching at straws here. You have had a run of bad luck, so things must get better. Kitty
This is dreadful and a timely warning about these appalling scammers. I saw it on Instagram and assumed it was someone else with the same name, as it was so unlike your usual posts! So sorry you've had this awful trauma. Really hope some of the assistance offered is helpful. Meanwhile, we're all rooting for you. Jenny x
I do hope you decide to give Instagram another go. Your photos and videos of your garden/family/dog and holidays would be greatly missed if you decide not to.
Perhaps you could cover the subject in your next article in Country Living Magazine. I'm sure you would get your followers back. Don't let these evil people win!