Hello, friends. It’s been quite a week over here. Last Tuesday, I made a rookie mistake and clicked on a link in an email that I thought was from Instagram. It wasn’t — it was from a hacker. The link prompted me to enter my current Instagram password in order to change it to keep my account secure, but really it was just giving my current password directly to the hacker. They took over my account, changed all the settings, and I lost complete access. Then they emailed me demanding money to get my account back. I didn’t give it to them, of course — they would either keep demanding more without returning my account, or somehow gain access to my bank account and do even more damage.
Despite trying to report this to Instagram dozens of times, I’ve received no official communication from them. My old account (@angelamomtessori) no longer appears on Instagram. Seven years of memories, 33.7K followers — all gone in the blink of an eye.
I set up a backup account @angelamomtessorilife in case I never get my old account back. It’s been a heartbreaking process, and I’ve spent much of the past week crying each time I realized another part of what was taken from me — videos of the girls as toddlers, a collection of funny quotes they’ve said, all of our Great British Baking Show challenges, and so much more. I’m trying to rebuild and prepare myself in case I never get that old account back again. Won’t you please join me over on my new account? Click on the post below to follow along!
ETA: I managed to get my old Instagram handle back, but none of the contents of my original account. I’m now @angelamomtessori — but if you were following me at that handle before, you no longer are. Please click below to follow again!