Popular media personality Joey Muthengi has been forced to start sourcing for followers from scratch after her verified Instagram account that had over 1million followers was recently hacked and taken over.
Announcing her comeback on her new account, the former Citizen TV anchor presenter thanked everyone that has stood with her and followed her once again.
“Hey friends, happy Tuesday, I just wanted to say thank you very much for the follow. I did loose my other account, such is life but this is the new me so thanks cheers,” she said.
According to Holy Dave, Joey’s brother, the account has been losing close to 1,000 followers everyday.
“We have been monitoring it for the past three weeks. Something strange was happening as she would lose almost one thousand followers in a day,” he said.
Hacked
Before deciding to surrender her account, the cautioned her followers against accepting any requests made through her account as it had been compromised.
“Hey friends, it appears my account has been compromised/hacked. Please do not agree to any seemingly lucrative deals on my behalf. I will open a new account soon. I hope you will follow me there. All the hugs,” she wrote.
She, however, resolved to let go of the account explaining that she was not going to pay a bribe the hackers are reportedly demanding from her.
“Whoever you are, you won. I hope this helps you sleep at night. Take the account, I pray it brings you coro…I mean… happiness. I will not ever pay a bribe for that which is mine …not in this lifetime,” concluded Joey.
Despite losing her previous verified account, the newly opened account @joey_muthengi is doing quite well with close to 5k followers.
Lessons to take home
A number of social media users, more so celebrities have found themselves in such compromising situations where their accounts are hacked and ransom demanded.
Here are a few tips that will help you secure your Instagram account and hopefully never have to bargain with hackers to get back your account.
In case you suspect your account has been compromised, use Instagram’s ‘New Account Recovery Process’.
How this works, tap the “My login info isn’t working” button, which will prompt you to enter the email address or phone number linked to your account or the ones used when you signed up to Instagram.
When you regain access to your account, Instagram will then take additional measures to “ensure a hacker cannot use codes sent to your email address [or] phone number to access your account from a different device,” This is according to Instagram’s spokesperson.
Second option, turn on ‘Two-Factor Authentication’.
What this does is, “whenever you log into Instagram from an unrecognized device, you’ll be prompted to enter an SMS security code, along with your username and password. This can help thwart any attempts by hackers to log into your account and change your contact information.
To turn two-factor authentication on, head to your Instagram profile and tap the settings button. Then scroll down and tap ‘Two-Factor Authentication’.”
All the best!
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