My Instagram was hacked: what to do first

Instagram has an official recovery process for hacked accounts, including an identity check for people who can no longer use the email or phone on the account. Meta says the relative success rate of hacked-account recovery rose by more than 30% in the US and Canada in 2025, but it publishes no absolute rate, so nobody can promise yours will be recovered. You complete the identity steps yourself; Essentras helps you prepare, coaches you, reviews your submission and tracks the case. No hacking is involved, and Meta makes the final decision.

Start at instagram.com/hacked, or tap Forgot password? on the login screen and request a login link to the email address or phone number on the account. If you cannot use either, or the link does not work, you may be able to request support from a mobile device, entering a secure email address only you can access. Instagram then emails the next steps, which can include an identity check such as a video selfie. You complete these steps yourself; Essentras helps you prepare, coaches you, reviews your submission and tracks the case through these official channels.

Go to instagram.com/hacked and follow the on-screen instructions for people who cannot use the email, phone number or username on the account. Instagram says you may be able to request support from a mobile device, and it then emails the next steps. The identity check can be a video selfie if the account has photos of you, or the email or phone you signed up with and the device type if it does not. Meta does not promise access: its lost-access page says it is unable to give you access if you cannot reach the email you registered with and never linked Facebook. Essentras helps you prepare and review each step; you complete the identity checks yourself.

Meta publishes no review time for account recovery or disabled-account appeals on the Instagram and Meta pages we checked on 15 October 2026. Third-party guides report anything from minutes to several days, but those figures are not Meta's. While Meta reviews a video selfie you cannot use the account. If it does not pass, you may be able to submit a new video. Nobody can promise a fixed time, because Meta controls the queue and the decision.

Legitimate recovery only ever helps the real owner regain access through Meta's official channels. It is a scam when someone calls themselves an "ethical hacker," claims insider Meta access, guarantees results, demands crypto upfront, or asks for your password. Essentras does none of those: we manage the official Meta process, never touch your password, and you pay only on success.