How to Identify and Recover Hacked Snapchat Account

Snapchat account getting hacked isn’t uncommon. There are various websites that claim to offer services to hack Snapchat accounts. Additionally, there are many phishing websites that claim to offer awesome features if you login with your Snapchat account details and then they hack your account. Plus, Snapchat now lets you send payments to other people by attaching your card with it, so it’s no surprise that hackers are looking to hack Snapchat accounts.

If you think your Snapchat account is hacked or there is some unusual activity, we are here to help you identify and recover your hacked Snapchat account. Without further ado, let’s get your account back!

Is Your Snapchat Account Really Hacked?

Before you try to recover your account, it’s best to identify if your Snapchat account is actually hacked and there is no misunderstanding. Below are some factors that should indicate if your account is hacked or not:

• Any suspicious activity on your Snapchat account that wasn’t performed by you. Like changes in account settings, your display name, addition of new friends, messages that you don’t remember sending or any other particular activity you don’t recognize.

• You are frequently logged out of your account and need to login.

• You received an email that your Snapchat password was changed or Snapchat alerted you that your account was accessed from a different location or device. If you don’t recognize these changes, your account might be hacked.

• You can’t login at all. Snapchat keeps saying that the password is wrong even when you are sure about entering the right password.

Gain Access and Secure Your Snapchat Account

If you are sure that your Snapchat account is hacked, let’s try to recover it. Here are the steps you should take to recover your hacked Snapchat account, if you can still access your account or if you can’t access it:

If You can Access Your Hacked Snapchat Account

In case the hacker hasn’t locked you out of the account and you can still login, here’s what you should do.

First tap on the “Ghost” icon or swipe down from it and tap on the “Settings” icon. In the Snapchat Settings, make sure the email address and phone number aren’t changed.

Then, tap on “Password”  and change your password by providing the current password and entering a new one.

Additionally, make sure your email account isn’t hacked. Take the right security measures offered by your email provider to protect your account. If your email account is hacked, your Snapchat account will be hacked again even if you secure it. You should also follow the security steps offered at the end of this article to further protect your account.

If You Can’t Access Your Account

If the hacker has changed the password and blocked you from accessing your Snapchat account, don’t worry, you may still be able to access it by using the “Forgot your password” option.

While logging in, tap on the “Forgot your password” link below and Snapchat will ask you whether you want to change the password using your phone number or email address. I will recommend you to use your phone number, as there is a greater chance it may not be compromised when compared to your email account.

Snapchat will make you go through a captcha check and then, send a code to your phone. You can enter the code in the provided field and Snapchat will let you change your password and access the account.

If you choose to recover your Snapchat account via your email address, you will get a password change link as an email, which you can use to reset the password and access your Snapchat account.

Still Can’t Access Your Account?

If you were unable to change the password using your phone number or email, it means the hacker has changed both of these details in your Snapchat account settings. In that case, only the Snapchat support team can help you restore your hacked account.

Fortunately, Snapchat offers a help page, where you can provide the required details to recover your account even if its password, phone number and email has been changed. Go to Snapchat help page and select “Report a safety concern” from the options. Snapchat will ask your concern and you can select “I think my account was hacked”.

You will see tips on how you can protect your account, here click on “Yes” next to “Still need help?”. Snapchat will ask you whether you were able access your account or not, select “No” here.

Then, you will be asked to fill in all the details regarding your account, so that the Snapchat team may help you recover your account. You need to provide your Snapchat username, an email address where the Snapchat team can contact you, the email address connected to the Snapchat account last time you logged in, any third-party app where you connected your Snapchat account and a details section, where you can add additional details to help Snapchat identify and recover your account.

When you provide all the aforementioned details, the Snapchat support team will review the details and contact you back. If they ask for any further information, just provide it and they should be able to help you recover your account.

Secure Your Snapchat Account

After going through the above steps, you should be able gain access to your Snapchat account. Once you’re inside your account, you can follow the below mentioned Snapchat security tips to secure your account against any future mishaps:

• Use a Strong Password: Like any other online account, a strong password is the first defense against hackers. Make sure your Snapchat account password contains random words, numerals, characters and upper & lower case alphabets. You can use a password manager to save the complicating password.

• Never Share your Account Information: Whether it is your friend or someone claiming to offer you incentives, you should never give up your account information. No one will ever need your account login credentials to offer services or solve a problem, including Snapchat support team.

• Refrain From Using Third-party Apps and Services: There are dozens of third-party apps and services that will let you connect your Snapchat account to access more features. However, these services could be less secure and some could even be outright scams. The more you stay away from such services, the better.

• Use Snapchat Login Verification: Snapchat offers 2-factor Authentication in the form of Login Verification to protect your account. Once Login Verification is enabled, you will have to provide your Snapchat account password and a random code sent to your phone to login. This will make it almost impossible for a hacker to hack your account, as they will need physical access to your phone. Here is the Snapchat support page that offers all the details regarding the Login Verification process.

SEE ALSO: How to Check and Recover Your Hacked Facebook Account

Recovered your hacked Snapchat account?

In most cases, the “Forgot your password” option should be enough to recover your account. Although even if you are locked out, Snapchat team will be able to help if you provide the right details. If the account is truly yours, there should be no problem in providing details such as, last snap sent, last successful login time, old password and other similar details. Having said that, a hacked personal account can be pretty exhausting, mentally, so we hope you have recovered your Snapchat account using the aforementioned ways. Do let us know whether you were able to recover your Snapchat account or not in the comments section below.