1. Try the platform's account recovery first
Use "Forgot password" from the login screen immediately, before doing anything else. If your email and phone number are unchanged, this often works on its own — if it does, skip ahead to step 4.
2. If the hacker changed your email or phone number
A regular password reset won't reach you anymore if the recovery email or number has been changed. Instagram and Facebook both have a separate "my account was hacked" recovery form, built specifically for this situation. It verifies your identity a different way — sometimes a photo ID, sometimes a password you used previously — instead of relying on the contact details the hacker now controls. Search "[platform name] hacked account recovery" from their official help centre to find the current form.
3. Warn people you know, on another platform
While you're locked out, a hacked account is often used to message your friends and family — asking for money, or sharing a suspicious link. A quick heads-up elsewhere (a text, a story on another app) can stop someone you know from being scammed using your name.
4. Once you're back in, lock it down
- Turn on two-factor authentication — this alone stops most repeat attempts.
- Check "active sessions" or "login activity" and log out anything you don't recognise.
- Review connected/third-party apps and remove anything unfamiliar.
- Change your password to something you haven't reused anywhere else.
5. When it's worth reporting formally
If the hacker used your account to scam someone, post something harmful in your name, or you simply couldn't recover it at all, that's worth filing with India's National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal — not just a platform report.