What do I do if my Instagram account was hacked?

In a nutshell: If you suspect your Instagram account has been hacked, act quickly to mitigate potential damage. Signs of hacking include unauthorized email changes, login issues, and unfamiliar posts. To prevent hacking, enable two-factor authentication. If you lose access, attempt to reset your password via the "Forgot Password?"

Jan 23, 2026

Introduction

If you have reason to believe that your Instagram account was hacked then you need to do something about it right away, to prevent any damage from being done. Hackers could steal personally identifying information about you, make posts that look like they're coming from you, and more. The exact steps you need to take will vary, depending on your exact circumstances, but time is of the essence.

What You'll Need

There are a few different signs that your Instagram account has been hacked. If you received an email from Instagram saying that your email was changed and you did not do it, you should suspect hacking. Not being able to successfully log in even when you are using the right password is another warning sign. Finding posts you did not make or other changes to your account are also warning signs.To reduce the chances of your account being hacked, you should turn on two-factor authentication.After you regain access to your account, look through the list of apps that have access to your account and remove permissions for any suspicious third-party apps. You should also remove any linked accounts if you don't recognize them.

Go to the Instagram home page.

Instagram home page

Log in to your Instagram account.

If you can no longer log in to your Instagram account, skip to step 8.

Click on the "three lines" icon.

Select the Settings option.

Choose the See More in Account Center option.

Go to Password and Security.

Select Change Password.

Follow the prompts to change your password.
This should give you sole access to your Instagram account once again, but you should do what you can to increase your account security, such as taking the precautions discussed above.
Do not proceed with subsequent steps.

Go to the log in page and click on the "Forgot Password?" link.

Enter the email address, phone number, or username associate with your Instagram account in the space provided and submit your request for a log in link.

Check your email and text messages for an email from Instagram.

It will contain a log in link that will allow you to get into your account so you can change your password and regain control of your account. To do so, go to step 3.
If this does not work for any reason, proceed with the next step.

Go to the Instagram hacked account page.

Instagram hacked account page

Provide the requested information so that Instagram can identify your account.

Check the email or phone number you provided to Instagram for communication from the company.

Follow the instructions you are sent to prove that you are who you say you are and that you are the proper owner of the account.

This may involved taking pictures or videos of yourself and providing additional documents.
Once Instagram is convinced of your claim, it will give you sole access to your account once again.

Conclusion

If you need additional assistance, contact an Instagram customer service agent to get it. Unfortunately, Instagram does not offer phone-based customer service. However, there are online contact options.

Further questions?

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Jeff truly believes that all customers deserve good service. He’s been building tools, inventing phone tree hacks and helping customers since before his days at GetHuman. He's also a Google GDE and involved in the Angular community.

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Why does GetHuman Write How-to Guides for Instagram Problems?

GetHuman has been working for over 10 years on sourcing information about big organizations like Instagram in order to help customers resolve customer service issues faster. We started with contact information and fastest ways to reach a human at big companies. Particularly ones with slow or complicated IVR or phone menu systems. Or companies that have self-serve help forums instead of a customer service department. From there, we realized that consumers still needed more detailed help solving the most common problems, so we expanded to this set of guides, which grows every day. And if you spot any issues with our What do I do if my Instagram account was hacked? guide, please let us know by sending us feedback. We want to be as helpful as possible. If you appreciated this guide, please share it with your favorite people. Our free information and tools is powered by you, the customer. The more people that use it, the better it gets.

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