# Velocity's bad, bad, bad Instagram Russia hack **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 15, 2019, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/velocitys-bad-bad-bad-instagram-russia-hack/832586 "2019-04-15T18:27:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/velocitys-bad-bad-bad-instagram-russia-hack/832586/1 "2019-04-15T18:27:10Z")
OK, maybe not that bad, but I logged into Instagram for the first time in years to find…in my “Edit Profile,” my email address has been replaced by a mysterious unrecognizable Russian email address, ending in “.Ru.” I check Google to find that [others have had the same problem](https://mashable.com/2018/08/13/instagram-hack-locked-out-of-account/?europe#TjVAp7ZXcqqW). But in my instance, I was actually able to log in under my real email address as usual, which baffles and worries me even more. I am trying to recall my Instagram password but can’t - but when I logged in, I didn’t have to provide password for some reason, it gave me an automatic login button to click on with my password (whatever my password is) already pre-loaded in the form of black circle dots. Trying to delete my Instagram account now (I never use it anyway) but I can’t delete it without entering the password manually…and I have no idea what that password is. Instagram is also massively unhelpful, everything is a go-around or dearth of info or just generally no support. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/velocitys-bad-bad-bad-instagram-russia-hack/832586/2 "2019-04-15T18:34:15Z")
Did you update the email address back to one you have access to? if so, I would use whatever reset password functionality instagram has to reset your password and then use that to delete it and not worry about it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/velocitys-bad-bad-bad-instagram-russia-hack/832586/3 "2019-04-15T18:35:24Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Did you update the email address back to one you have access to? if so, I would use whatever reset password functionality instagram has to reset your password and then use that to delete it and not worry about it anymore. Sounds like a plan. I’ll try that, thanks. Just worried that updating the email address might somehow give more stuff for phishing exploitation. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/velocitys-bad-bad-bad-instagram-russia-hack/832586/4 "2019-04-15T18:44:06Z")
Assuming you are changing it back to whatever it was originally, they wouldn’t have any more information than they already got from the original hack. You can set up a new yahoo email or other free account to use just for this if you’re concerned about security and trash the email account after deleting instagram. Almost certainly, the hack was to get control of an account to sell on the dark web (if it’s an OG account) or to be used as a zombie account for following, liking and sharing to boost other instagram accounts. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/velocitys-bad-bad-bad-instagram-russia-hack/832586/5 "2019-04-15T19:56:23Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > OK, maybe not that bad, but I logged into Instagram for the first time in years to find…in my “Edit Profile,” my email address has been replaced by a mysterious unrecognizable Russian email address, ending in “.Ru.” > > I check Google to find that [others have had the same problem](https://mashable.com/2018/08/13/instagram-hack-locked-out-of-account/?europe#TjVAp7ZXcqqW). But in my instance, I was actually able to log in under my real email address as usual, which baffles and worries me even more. > > I am trying to recall my Instagram password but can’t - but when I logged in, I didn’t have to provide password for some reason, it gave me an automatic login button to click on with my password (whatever my password is) already pre-loaded in the form of black circle dots. > > Trying to delete my Instagram account now (I never use it anyway) but I can’t delete it without entering the password manually…and I have no idea what that password is. Instagram is also massively unhelpful, everything is a go-around or dearth of info or just generally no support. Any ideas? Try this: [https://www.bu.edu/tech/services/cccs/desktop/software/troubleshooting/removing-password-from-browsers-saved-password-list/](https://www.bu.edu/tech/services/cccs/desktop/software/troubleshooting/removing-password-from-browsers-saved-password-list/) You can click on the little eye icon to see the pw. It asks for the local computer user PW. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/velocitys-bad-bad-bad-instagram-russia-hack/832586/6 "2019-04-16T01:40:44Z")
I don’t know about Instagram in particular but, usually, the way to deal with this is to contact the company and inform them that your account has been hijacked by someone. They’ll review the history of the account and ask you to confirm your address and maybe some other things and then assign it back to you.