Cream Sweater || Similar Suede Leggings || Star Earrings ||
As I was mentioning in my previous post, I’ve been a bit absent from the blog and if you follow me on social media, you’ll notice quite a change on there as well. My Instagram and e-mails were all hacked, with my Instagram specifically being held hostage from me until I would give the hackers, who were Russian, money. Crazy, right?! I did not give anything so they went ahead and permanently deleted my account. They were consistently texting and sending me e-mails trying to get me to pay them the money. It’s an extremely scary situation where you feel completely violated. Instagram is not the begin all and end all of the world, but for bloggers and any business, it is a huge part of their promotion. It’s typically why a company will want to work with a blogger. It was a huge blow to lose five years of hard work, the friends I had made over the years, and of course, the highlight reel of memories.
On top of losing my Instagram and business that went with it, I could also see the hackers were in my e-mail, which is how the hack originally happened. Please, be extremely careful with links! I received an e-mail from a company I know, or rather thought I knew, asking to work with me and for me to view their collection of items to choose from. I clicked the link and BOOM, I was hacked. The impersonators pretended to be from Good Night Macaroon, so if you receive any e-mails from them, double check the authenticity first, though I have a feeling the hackers use tons of different companies that bloggers/influencers/people work with. After that, I had to delete my e-mail accounts as well and have my computer wiped clean. You really never know. I learned a good and hard lesson from this episode. I’m not the only one this has happened to and I will not be the last. Last year, thousands of Instagram accounts were hacked by Russians and apparently, it’s still going on. Aside from Instagram, people get hacked everyday. The question is not if, but when it will happen. It’s unfortunate we live in a world where this happens on a daily basis, but the best thing you can do is to be vigilant in protecting yourself.
One last note is my disappointment with Instagram’s customer service, or lack there of. It took me an hour and a half just to find the correct form to submit to Instagram to let them know my account was hacked. If this happens to you, it is a purple form that pops up from the login page, but good luck finding it. I found it by accident. By the time I did find it, instagram informed me that my account had already been permanently deleted and there was nothing they could do. Sorry for the inconvenience. I was flabbergasted. There is no one to call, no where to send an e-mail. Basically, no one to contact if something goes wrong. Not exactly the best way to run your company.
With this all going on, I also had my brother’s wedding to prep for and then to celebrate and work photographing the big day. More on that happy occasion to come! Needless to say, I’ve been a bit busy dealing with all of this, but I will not let the bad parts get me down. Yes, it was discouraging and I had a lot of work to do afterwards, but my reason for starting this blog was to inspire people and I can still do that here on the blog, with or without Instagram. As it was for me, let this also be a learning lesson for others as well. Now, it’s time to move forward and to get going again. I’m more than ready to get back on here. Also, a big thank you to everyone who helped during the hacking period. Your help and understanding is more appreciated than you’ll ever know.
xo, Amanda