Instagram username changed by hacker

Short answer. If a hacker changed your Instagram username, secure the email on the account and follow Instagram's hacked-account steps. Save proof of the old handle. If the login now says disabled, appeal that notice. We do not buy the old username back, and we never ask for your password.

An Instagram username changed by a hacker means someone with access renamed the profile. Your photos may still be there under a handle you do not recognize, or the login may already be a disable screen. Treat it as a hack first, and as a ban if the notice says so.

Lock the email, then document the old name

Change the password on the email you used for Instagram, on a device you trust. Search for mail from security@mail.instagram.com. If they wrote that the email or username changed, use the secure link in that message. The email-change page is Instagram hacked email changed. The wider hack steps are Instagram hacked recover.

Write down the old @ name. Save any screenshot, story reply, or email that shows it. Ask one friend for a photo of the old profile if you have none. That record is what you show when the form asks who the account belongs to.

If you can still get in, set a new Instagram password, remove unknown sessions, and check the email and phone on the profile. If you cannot get in, use Instagram’s hacked-account help on a familiar device. If you also lost the inbox and the phone, use Lost access to email and phone on Instagram.

We appeal the account. We do not sell the name.

A disable on top of the rename is appealed from the notice. See Instagram account disabled: how to get it back. We do not buy the old username from someone else, and we do not hand you a different profile that happens to wear the name.

Send the old username, the new one if you know it, and the screenshots. We file through Meta’s own official channels. It takes a few days. Start a case on the contact page. How it works is the three steps. We never ask for your password.

Related reading

Questions

Can I get the old username back?

Secure the account first. The old handle is part of the appeal and the hack report. We file the account appeal. We do not buy or sell usernames.

What proof helps?

Screenshots from before the change, emails from Instagram, and the old @ name written down. A friend's screenshot of the old profile helps too.

I cannot log in at all.

Use the hacked-account flow on a device you have used before. If a disable notice appears, screenshot it and appeal from that screen.

Should I create a new account with the old name?

Not while this account is under appeal. Get the real profile back first.

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