Yoooo I have to tell you this CRAZY experience I went through few days ago! 

It honestly got me feeling shook, weak, sad, mad, vulnerable, and SUPER SCARED!!!

Soooo…In the middle of this Covid 19 Crisis…  I GOT HACKED & BLACKMAILED…

This Hacker was definitely targeting INFLUENCERS looking to work with brands , so I decided to do this video because , as a content creator, paid influencer, social media manager, instagram coach… I saw my whole world falling apart for few days and I do not want to see anyone else going through this! 

Yes THIS IS STORY TIME… Let’s go!

How they got me

The other day, I was tranquilly working at my desk, and received on my computer this EMAIL with a proposal for product placement on my Instagram account… the mail was looking SUPER LEGIT, as you can see right here.

This “Lana Gopson” said she was working for this brand called @southboutique … which is a LEGIT REAL online boutique selling super trendy clothes and accessories that any fashionista would love to wear, and event advertise for!

So far nothing seemed suspicious to me… “Lana Gopson” was mentioning the instagram account of the brand with this link (which EXISTED at the time and lead me to a very decent IG PAGE) , which seemed again TOTALLY LEGIT… as you can see.

I automatically click on the link, because, mind you, since I started this influencer thing, I have been receiving tons of emails like this, with or without a link to check out their website, IG page or whatever, so it did not look suspicious to my eyes at all!

But clicking on that link was my 1st mistake because the link took me to what appeared as the basic INSTAGRAM LOG IN PAGE, asking me to LOG IN and I did, I mean I tried to log in and it would not take me anywhere… which was weird but I still did not pay attention. I just simply went to check that  @southboutique ig account on my phone that was right there on my desk too.

Once I checked their page , I nicely replied to their email, accepting their offer, and moved on….

How they Blackmailed me

About 24 hours later , during the night around 4 am I received 2 emails from Instagram alerting me that my email address and phone numbers had been changed, and asking me to secure my account.

Mind you, this intrusion in my IG account happened like 3 hours before I had received these emails…  so to be honest , I LOVE YOU IG, but you did not do a great job in sending the ALERT! The hacker had ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD to lock me out of my own account and, deactivate it so no one could see it anymore (and I happened to be on the phone at that moment so I was not paying attention to my email).

Then still around 4am, I happened to check my emails ( yes this quarantined life got me working at weird hours lol ) and that is when saw this email from this “ Any Hirl” that was titled : “HACK INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT” and that was saying :

I went straight to my IG app, trying to see if it was just a spam, a joke… and thats when I saw… I could not access my account and even worse, I was unable to find it…

My 2 years of Instagram growth , all my content, all my collaborations with brands, my interviews of other influencers… everything was just GONE !!!!

I could not believe it! I was shocked , confused, terrified and started to engage with this MOTHER F*CK*R…

 

and they replied with a screenshot my account translated in what I believe was Russian and a text saying :

I felt devastated…

How I got my account back!!!

I tried everything, searching blog links and youtube videos about “how to get your hacked account back”,

I found this blog post , relating a story like mine… This beautiful blogger girl had been hacked by the same email coming from this “ Lana Gopson” girl.. and she was explaining that she found this “Hacker”, who managed to help her recover her account… but She did not leave his contact.. I guess she was trying to protect him or something…

I found her IG and had my King, DMed her from his IG account, to explain my problem and ask for the guy’s contact… 

Time was passing and this Hacker was sending me threats to delete every single picture on my account and to sell it… I felt so helpless and hopeless that I made my 2nd mistake and decided to PAY this MOTHER F*CK*R!!!

They only wanted bitcoins so it took me forever to figure out how to do it…

I sent them screenshot to prove that i was really in the process, so they started to show more patience, as they got me…

When I finally sent them the payment… lol of course, they disappeared! 

I FELT CRUSHED !!!

Until This blogger girl finally replied to my King, sending him her “Hacker” contact and wishing us good luck!

HOPE WAS BACK IN MY HEART AGAIN!!!

We Dm the guy, whose profile mentioned him as “IG SECURITY PARTNER”. He did not took too long to reply and sent us a link to his WhatsApp number .

I was finally talking directly to  A REAL PERSON, who seemed to be an expert for this type of situation…

After I sent him all the screenshots I had of the scam, and finally explained my issue he said 

“I think I can get your account back”.

ANOTHER LIGHT OF HOPE WAS SHINING THROUGH MY HEART!!!

He handled the situation like a REAL pro. He asked me my email address related to the IG account and password… I did not have any sensitive information on the account so I gave it to him… 

After few hours of him DOING HIS THING, he finally texted me back saying “ I got your account back” with a link to my IG account looking like before, with all my 20K + FOLLOWERS, all my content, everything was there like nothing never happened! 

I was SOOOOOOO THRILLED, I SCREAMED, DANCED AND RUN like a crazy person in my apartment !! Man I was so Happy!

WHAT TO DO ( OR NOT DO ) IF YOU ARE HACKED 

• Try to not panic… I know it is easier said than done but this is How these hackers manage to make money!

• Do not reply to the first email… They are just waiting for your response to start playing with your head and your feelings!

• DO NOT SEND THEM ANY MONEY! Man, I have to be honest , I thought , If i have to pay $265 to get a chance to get my account back , it is worth it… thinking that it was approximately the amount of money I was making PER POSTS on ig, so it was definitely worth the try… BUT I WAS WRONG.

• Do not lose HOPE. Everything we post online, on social media doesn’t just disappear like that… There is always a way to get a back up…. and someone who knows HOW TO DO IT.

• If you know any IG SECURITY PARTNER, go directly through them, Nothing better than a REAL HUMAN with REAL SKILLS to help you in this type of situation.

• If you do not know any IG SECURITY PARTNER… contact me via my DMS or via the form BELOW. I will gladly send you his contact! This guy is amazing, and definitely reliable! 

FILL THE FORM BELOW IF YOU ARE SEEKING THIS TYPE OF HELP