It is no gainsaying that social media is now an important feature in our lives. It is used by almost everyone from celebrities to influencers, businesses, news platforms, marketers and individuals. Some persons have even leveraged on it to make money. So, it is important for your different social media accounts to be secured. Regardless, since you are online, and there are hackers prowling for accounts to hack, you have to be observant to know if your accounts have been illegally accessed or not. In line with this, Jumia Travel and Jumia Mobile Week presents 7 signs your social media account has been hacked.
You are unable to log into your accounts
This is an obvious sign that your account may have been hijacked by hackers. You have tried several passwords but you are still locked out of your account. Even the change password option is not working. It must have been a very sophisticated hack. The only way you can have your account back is to contact Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat.
Status not updated by you
This is perhaps the simplest way to know if your social media account has been hacked. You will see tweets or posts you didn’t share appearing on your timeline. It may be political or propagandist messages. You should immediately change your password.
Your number of followers significantly Jumps
You only have 300 followers on either your Instagram or Twitter page. Then you suddenly notice that it jumped to like 2,000 or 3,000. It is strange right and you never followed anyone. In fact, Instagram or Twitter will not allow you to garner 2,000 or 3,000 followers a day. If this is the case, it is highly possible that your account has been hacked.
Someone logged into your account from an unusual location
Sometimes, you may add the wrong location for reasons best known to you. However, if you see a location you never added, it is an alert that someone is illegally accessing your account from that location. You may want to do some checks to be sure you were not the one that changed it.
You cannot find all your posts
All your posts for years have grown wings and flew away. You cannot find them. You searched and searched but you still couldn’t find them. You logged in and logged out but the same thing. It is advisable you change your password or you have to deactivate that account and open a new one.
Too many spammy ads on your page
This mainly applies to Facebook. A seemingly interesting post is recommended to you to read. If you click it, you have opened the floodgate to spammy ads. That click will allow hackers to access your account.
Your cover image has been replaced
If your cover image has been replaced with a naked woman or any other nasty picture or photo, it means someone is attempting to frame you or in the process of usurping your account. You should look out for this on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
