This Woman Had Her Instagram Hacked And Then Deleted When She Didn't Pay The Ransom

If you use social media on a regular basis, you may know how stressful it would be to unexpectedly lose your account and everything on it.

Becky O'Haire had worked pretty hard to amass her 39,000 followers on Instagram over 5 years, and enjoyed interacting with them on a daily basis. Then last week, she went to open the app and was met with the login screen but wasn't able to get in to her account. Next thing, an email arrived from someone who had hacked her account and was demanding $300 in 2 hours of they would delete and sell her account.

Becky considered sending them the money but ultimately decided not to as there's no guarantee the hackers wouldn't just keep her money. She hasn't been able to speak to anyone at Instagram as every avenue she's tried only offers automated responses, so she has started a new account in the meantime and is working on building up her followers again. Becky is  using this new account to emphasise the importance of good security on your social media accounts - two factor authentication all the way!

 

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I’m going to add some of my favourite photos here as well as new content. But this shot has to be one of my all time favs. We had the beach at sunset to ourself. 🙏🏻 * It is painful being honest, because I had a story highlight of this magical day. It hasn’t been easy to let go & accept my account being lost to a hacker. All of my contacts here are lost. Five years of connections, memories, messages...gone. * One good thing is at least one hack has been prevented by my speaking out. An email was sent to a blogger friend with the same wording in it. I can’t stress this enough - DO NOT OPEN INSTAGRAM LINKS IN EMAILS!!!! And set up two factor login. Right now. Literally stop reading & go. * I’m writing an article for my blog about this whole experience. And will be sharing everything. Thank you for your continued support. Please keep sharing to help me rebuild. xx * ✌🏻🌸 #beachlife🌴 #atlanticbeach #westofireland #discoverireland #seasideview #irishbeach #irishcoast #irishbeaches #visitgalway #galway #curiouslittleexplorers #letkidsbekids #mumswithcameras #childrenoftheworld #childhoodunplugged #simplykids #cherisheverymoment #candidchildhood #letthembelittle #outdoorkids

A post shared by Becky O'Haire (@cuddlefairy) on Sep 28, 2019 at 12:16pm PDT

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