How To Keep Your Instagram Account Safe

We would like to openly share something  that has nothing to do with jewellery. It was a not so pleasant experience we went through in February when Culturesse Instagram was targeted and hacked. Recently phishing attacks via Instagram have increased and a lot of Australian businesses have fallen victim. If you or someone you know runs a business account on Instagram, please read on and share. Stay safe, stay alert, stay informed and give no oxygen to such criminal activities. 

It all happened within seconds

In February, Culturesse Instagram account @culturesse was hacked via a similar phishing technique. It only took the hackers a few seconds to change the back end contact methods, so that we could not retrieve the account via the usual email and mobile numbers set up.

The hackers used various psychological ploys trying to trigger a reaction, attempting to 'negotiate' for the purpose of extorting money. After more than 72 hours' stressful battle, we regained control of our account without giving the hackers any attention. This is how we did it.

Poker face on & stay calm

~ Don't interact or negotiate with the hackers

~ It can be excruciating to watch hackers posting hurtful content on your account, and damaging content you've spent years and effort to build - but do not react

~ Don't reveal your moves, let the hackers reveal theirs

Be proactive 

~ In our case, we were slightly unlucky because the previous 2-way authentication app and codes were stored on an old mobile phone; otherwise it would have been much easier to retrieve the account without such a battle

~ In the circumstances where all the retrieving methods weren't working in our favour, we used video identification which successfully triggered the backup codes to be sent to the original emails .

~ All the while, we kept receiving threatening emails from the hackers warning us not to try again, otherwise the account would be deleted permanently. We never responded to them once.