u/ArtisticRecipe1293

Hi everyone,

I'm sharing my experience here out of sheer frustration and desperation. I lost two Instagram accounts that I used for my personal digital portfolio (for personal branding) and as a small content creator.

As a heads-up, I rarely used this account except to post certificates, coding projects, scholarship applications, internships/volunteering, bootcamps, competitions, and daily life. This was my college account and a key resource for my future career, so I was devastated.

However, a few hours after I submitted my ID and selfie appeal, there was a login attempt from Algeria using a device I had never used before. I didn't think much of it, assuming someone just entered the wrong login details. Nothing suspicious had ever happened on that account before, and when I checked my login info, devices, and IPs, everything looked normal except for these past entries:

January 26, 2023, at 12:03 a.m.

January 26, 2023, at 3:16 a.m.

March 12, 2023, at 5:54 a.m.

All of these were from different devices and IPs. I never received notifications about these and had no idea they existed. For context, I hadn't enabled 2FA on this account because I never expected anything like this to happen.

Additionally, I noticed abnormal activity spikes on this account:

November 26, 2025: There was an unusual spike in follower activity.

June 2, 2026: There was another unusual spike in follower activity.

2. On July 2, 2026, I submitted an appeal using Meta Verified.

I thought this might be part of a ban wave, so I requested an escalation. On that exact date while appealing, there was another login from Brazil using a device completely different from the previous ones. At the time, I thought maybe it was a Meta staff member escalating my account.

3. I started using my older secondary account to continue as a small content creator.

This account was verified (blue tick) and had a Professional Dashboard. I intended to shift my focus here after losing my digital portfolio. But on August 6, 2026, this account was also disabled due to Integrity violations caused by alleged fraud. I was extremely confused because the account had a very healthy status and I used it sparingly.

Then, the pattern repeated: on August 7, 2026, I received a login notification originating from Syria. I was completely baffled and tried so hard to figure out what was happening. Ever since my first account was disabled, I had enabled 2FA out of fear, yet the same pattern still happened.

Additional Information:

• I checked Have I Been Pwned, and it turns out my Gmail address was leaked in a data breach back in April 2020.

• That leaked Gmail address was the recovery email I used for both of my Instagram accounts.

I have tried escalating through Meta Verified support, but the Meta supervisors rejected it. Now the situation is much worse: all of my Gmail accounts have been fully hacked (passwords, recovery emails, and recovery phone numbers were changed), leaving me completely locked out of everything. How to recovery?

​

Hi everyone,

I'm sharing my experience here out of sheer frustration and desperation. I lost two Instagram accounts that I used for my personal digital portfolio (for personal branding) and as a small content creator.

1. On June 26, 2026, my primary account was disabled due to a CSE flag.

As a heads-up, I rarely used this account except to post certificates, coding projects, scholarship applications, internships/volunteering, bootcamps, competitions, and daily life. This was my college account and a key resource for my future career, so I was devastated.

However, a few hours after I submitted my ID and selfie appeal, there was a login attempt from Algeria using a device I had never used before. I didn't think much of it, assuming someone just entered the wrong login details. Nothing suspicious had ever happened on that account before, and when I checked my login info, devices, and IPs, everything looked normal except for these past entries:

•• January 26, 2023, at 12:03 a.m.

•• January 26, 2023, at 3:16 a.m.

•• March 12, 2023, at 5:54 a.m.

All of these were from different devices and IPs. I never received notifications about these and had no idea they existed. For context, I hadn't enabled 2FA on this account because I never expected anything like this to happen.

Additionally, I noticed abnormal activity spikes on this account:

•• November 26, 2025: There was an unusual spike in follower activity.

•• June 2, 2026: There was another unusual spike in follower activity.

2. On July 2, 2026, I submitted an appeal using Meta Verified.

I thought this might be part of a ban wave, so I requested an escalation. On that exact date while appealing, there was another login from Brazil using a device completely different from the previous ones. At the time, I thought maybe it was a Meta staff member escalating my account.

3. I started using my older secondary account to continue as a small content creator.

This account was verified (blue tick) and had a Professional Dashboard. I intended to shift my focus here after losing my digital portfolio. But on August 6, 2026, this account was also disabled due to Integrity violations caused by alleged fraud. I was extremely confused because the account had a very healthy status and I used it sparingly.

Then, the pattern repeated: on August 7, 2026, I received a login notification originating from Syria. I was completely baffled and tried so hard to figure out what was happening. Ever since my first account was disabled, I had enabled 2FA out of fear, yet the same pattern still happened.

Additional Information:

•• I checked Have I Been Pwned, and it turns out my Gmail address was leaked in a data breach back in April 2020.

•• That leaked Gmail address was the recovery email I used for both of my Instagram accounts.

I have tried escalating through Meta Verified support, but the Meta supervisors rejected it. Now the situation is much worse: all of my Gmail accounts have been fully hacked (passwords, recovery emails, and recovery phone numbers were changed), leaving me completely locked out of everything.

Hi everyone,

I'm sharing my experience here out of sheer frustration and desperation. I lost two Instagram accounts that I used for my personal digital portfolio (for personal branding) and as a small content creator.

1. On June 26, 2026, my primary account was disabled due to a CSE flag.

As a heads-up, I rarely used this account except to post certificates, coding projects, scholarship applications, internships/volunteering, bootcamps, competitions, and daily life. This was my college account and a key resource for my future career, so I was devastated.

However, a few hours after I submitted my ID and selfie appeal, there was a login attempt from Algeria using a device I had never used before. I didn't think much of it, assuming someone just entered the wrong login details. Nothing suspicious had ever happened on that account before, and when I checked my login info, devices, and IPs, everything looked normal except for these past entries:

•• January 26, 2023, at 12:03 a.m.

•• January 26, 2023, at 3:16 a.m.

•• March 12, 2023, at 5:54 a.m.

All of these were from different devices and IPs. I never received notifications about these and had no idea they existed. For context, I hadn't enabled 2FA on this account because I never expected anything like this to happen.

2. On July 2, 2026, I submitted an appeal using Meta Verified.

I thought this might be part of a ban wave, so I requested an escalation. On that exact date while appealing, there was another login from Brazil using a device completely different from the previous ones. At the time, I thought maybe it was a Meta staff member escalating my account.

3. I started using my older secondary account to continue as a small content creator.

This account was verified (blue tick) and had a Professional Dashboard. I intended to shift my focus here after losing my digital portfolio. But on August 6, 2026, this account was also disabled due to Integrity violations caused by alleged fraud. I was extremely confused because the account had a very healthy status and I used it sparingly.

Then, the pattern repeated: on August 7, 2026, I received a login notification originating from Syria. I was completely baffled and tried so hard to figure out what was happening. Ever since my first account was disabled, I had enabled 2FA out of fear, yet the same pattern still happened.

Additional Information:

•• I checked Have I Been Pwned, and it turns out my Gmail address was leaked in a data breach back in April 2020.

•• That leaked Gmail address was the recovery email I used for both of my Instagram accounts.

I have tried escalating through Meta Verified support, but the Meta supervisors rejected it. Now the situation is much worse: all of my Gmail accounts have been fully hacked (passwords, recovery emails, and recovery phone numbers were changed), leaving me completely locked out of everything.