Recovering Stolen Email or Social Media Passwords

Social Media and e-mail have become an integral part of our lives as a society. Losing access to one of these accounts can be a big deal. Sometimes, your loss of access is something that can cause a significant disruption, much more so if someone begins making posts or accounts while impersonating you. Loss of access to your accounts, particularly those with credit card information in them, may be an indicator of identity fraud. If you find this to be true, you may benefit from a Florida identity fraud attorney with Sharmin & Sharmin. 

Indicators That Your Account Has Been Hacked 

Someone may choose to hack your accounts for a variety of reasons, but some more nefarious motives could be an attempt to obtain financial information. Some Indicators that your accounts have been hacked can include:

• You no longer have access to your account
• You have received an e-mail indicating a password change was made, but you did not make the change
• You get messages from friends and family who say you are saying or posting things out of the ordinary
• You may get an alert that your account has been accessed on a device you don’t recognize
• Charges on your account through Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, or other social media platforms that you did not make

At times, you may receive an e-mail or message stating that your account has been compromised. It may ask you to log in from a link in the e-mail, but these should be approached with caution as it may be a phishing scam to get your sensitive information. 

Accessing Your Account

If you realize someone has gotten into your social media or e-mail accounts, the Federal Trade Commission has some advice on how to navigate your situation, with the first step being to run a scan on your computer with your security software. If everything looks okay with the scan, you should follow the password recovery guidelines for the accounts you need to access. 

The process to get back into your account will typically include some kind of two-step authentication where a code will be sent to your e-mail or phone. It may also include security questions to verify your identity. Once you have access to your account again, it is a good idea to reset your password. Some basic guidelines for a password are:

• At least 16 characters long (sometimes this may be a passphrase)
• Include special characters
• Include at least one number
• Make sure you have at least one capital letter

Preventing Another Breach

Once you get into your accounts and reset the password, you can take steps to prevent another breach. Some of these will include setting up multifactor identification if you have not already or using a password manager on your computer to generate complex passwords. For passwords that you create yourself, you should always make sure they are unique. This means completely separate, not variations of the same one. Ultimately, if you feel that the root of your hacked account was a symptom of a larger goal, there are steps to take to report identity fraud in Florida. You can seek support from Sharmin and Sharmin to recover your losses and move forward with your life.