Probably the worst nightmare someone can ever have is getting their Instagram account hacked. It takes a few minutes to create a new account but years to build one from the ground up. Seeing your account get taken away from you and being used for shady activities…. Well, there’s no time to feel sad or sorry here. You need to act fast and learn how to delete a hacked Instagram account before some even greater damage occurs. So, read this article until the end to decide your next action.
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Here’s How To Delete A Hacked Instagram Account Using Two Smart Hacks!
What you’re going to do next depends on what has happened to your Instagram account/ the amount of damage the hacker has done. Sometimes, hackers try to change your email address, phone number, password, etc., to prevent you from reaccessing your account. Sometimes, you might get to see unusual activity on your account. Sometimes, your followers might get suspicious messages from your account. But these are just a few possible case scenarios. Things can always be better/ worse.
And let me break it to you: whether you can delete your account depends on several factors. For example, it depends on the level of access you still have to your account. If you can recover your account, you will be able to delete it easily as well.
Regardless of the factor, it’s definitely worth a try. So, if you want to know how to delete a hacked Instagram account, keep reading this article.
How To Delete A Hacked Instagram Account By Recovering It First?
If you’re looking to delete your Instagram account because it is hacked, you will need to have a few details at least. Usually, hackers change the email address and/ or phone number linked to an account to prevent the owner from getting back to it. But, in case these things haven’t been changed yet, you can use them to request a login link from Instagram.
Here’s how this can be done:
- Go to the login page of Instagram.
- If you use an Android device, tap on the “Get help logging in” option. If you use a web browser or an iPhone, tap “Forgot password.”
- After that, you will be asked to enter your registered email address or phone number.
- Once you enter this, you will be asked how you wish to receive a login link to your account— email or SMS. You also get to log in to your account via Facebook.
- Once you’ve decided how you want to login, tap on the “Send Login Link” option.
And, done. Within a few minutes, you will have the login link via your chosen method.
Now, you’ve got two options: either you can proceed with deleting your account, or you can simply secure it further, like setting up two-factor authentication, having a complicated password, etc. Remember, deleting an account is not the only way to reverse the damage a hacker might have inflicted upon your account.
How To Delete A Hacked Instagram Account By Reporting It?
Deleting an Instagram account whose password you don’t have– whether it’s hacked or not– is difficult. However, it is not impossible. So, if you fail to recover your Instagram account in order to delete it, there’s still something you can do.
You can report the hacked account using other Instagram accounts. Instagram will look into the reports and delete the account in a while.
If this sounds like something you want to do, use someone else’s Instagram account and follow these steps:
- Open their Instagram account.
- Oftentimes, hackers tend to change the username and profile picture of the account they hack. However, if the username is still the same, you can look for your profile by going to the Explore feed and typing in your username in the search bar.
- Go to your profile from there. When the profile page opens, tap on the three-dot icon present at the top right corner of the page.
- A menu will appear on the screen. Choose “Report…” from the options given.
- Then, choose the “Report account” option.
- Instagram will now ask you why you wish to report that particular account. Select “It’s pretending to be someone else.”
- Instagram will then ask you who the account is pretending to be. Choose “Me” from the options given.
And, that’s it! Instagram has now received your report. They will take a while to review it; please be patient till then. Once their review is completed, they will send you a notification to let you know the outcome.
In case your username has been changed as well, and you can’t look for your account using the above-mentioned method, then tap on the Messenger icon and scroll through the list of conversations to find the one that your friend had with you. Even though the username has been changed, your chat with your friend might still be intact.
When you locate the chat, tap on it. Then, tap on the username. From the next screen, select “Report…”.
It’s unclear how many reports are needed to get an account deleted. However, you should still ask a few friends of yours to report your account on your behalf. That should help the matter.
Final Words
So, this was how to delete a hacked Instagram account, people! Having your account get hacked is probably the worst thing that can happen to you. But please note that you can still do plenty of things to prevent damage or at least minimize it. You can use the above-mentioned method to regain access to your account to secure it further or delete it. And if you can’t access your account, regardless of how hard you try, you can use the second method to report your account and eventually delete it.
How do you delete an Instagram account you don’t have access to?
For security reasons, Instagram doesn’t let users delete an account they don’t have access to. However, you can get an account reported, and Instagram will eventually delete it.
Should I delete an account if it was hacked?
You don’t necessarily have to delete an account because it was hacked. You can secure your account further once you regain access to it.
How many reports are needed to delete an Instagram account?
There’s no rule regarding how many reports are needed to get an Instagram account deleted.
