I was hacked, what's next, and how to protect yourself from these predators

My IG was hacked
Remember those phishing scams where a Nigerian Prince would tell you that he wanted to share his fortune with you, just send bank information..
Well, he’s got a new focus!
Alas, the Nigerian Prince has taken over my Instagram account. I never thought it could happen to me. By the end of this pod, I’ll make sure you know how to not let it happen to you.

But first, let me tell you what its like to have your IG get hacked…

BTW- I’m currently seeing the importance of my newsletter. Keeping in touch with you all. My website and email are secure, so please go to thecontractinghandbook.com now where to will be prompted to join my crew. I wont spam you, ever. Just occasional updates and behind the scenes stuff. If you did sign up and didn’t get an email announcing this episode titled “I was hacked, what’s next and how to protect yourself”, please check spam folder

Now back to that hack

If you’re like me, you put a lot of yourself into everything you do. You’re not always sure of the yourself but you have the confidence to take the leap. You probably bet yourself up a bit in striving for excellence. Anyhow, back to how it felt.

You know that feeling when you reach for your phone and its not there, when your sitting in an airport and smack your pocket to double check you have your passport, forget to buy fishing license just before heading out, realize the charger cord for your laptop is at home and not in your bag, forget you notebook, leave your phone somewhere, misplace your car keys and you’re now gonna be late….

Any other juicy ones out there?

Well getting hacked is like all of that at once. Its wretched.

Hmm, at first, I thought I would get the account right back. Then the texts from my Nigerian Prince stared coming in. My stomach sank. I wrote an email to anyone I could that knows me on IG.

Would I get it back?

But, oddly, worse was a sense of being locked out. I could see the account on my laptop but could not control or interact. I couldn’t talk to my virtual homies.
First notification: Email changed- did you do this? If not click this link. The link was useless. There is not a “revert this change” option as they say there should or would be.

Second notification: Phone number changed- did you do this? If not click this link. Again, the link was useless.

Then the worst notification: You activated two factor authetication

Then late that first night, I experienced grief. Another text from the hacker, retracing the notifications from Instagram and realizing that all that work now belongs to my Nigerian Prince.

He, or she, mustn’t assume, had set up two factor authentication with my own IG accounts. My construction company and this here podcast. That’s right. I lost both accounts.

I felt like I was gonna puke. I looked at how the presentation had improved during the second season of the pod and all of the recent participation on the posts between Seasons 2 and 3.

I knew I needed a new plan.

I’ve got some more feelers out to Instagram but I’m losing hope.

So many good things came to be from this handle, many friends were made. Many people came and experienced affirmation while others just shared thoughts. We grew a community of builders that really don’t give a crap about how it was done in the past, no trade secrets, just making a better building community.


Now, how you can avoid this predicatment
Here’s the deal.

1.At least have two factor authentication on your account
2. Don’t respond to odd requests, even if it’s a good friend.
3. Have pics of your face on IG so they can use a selfie video of you to identify you on your page.
This absolutely got denied even though you guys know my face is there.
4. It is also suggested online to Connect IG to an FB account.

Now, I’m not entirely sure what happened to mine but here’s where I got hosed. I’ve been trying to sign out of one of my three accounts for weeks. I have a handle I’ve never used, @built in Alaska (Straight Ahead Construction) and @thecontractinghandbook. They are all connected to the same password. I’d been trying to sign out so I could get a new password to incorporate a scheduling app for when I might want to schedule posting times for another time zone. Normally, if you sign out of ig and forget your password, they just send a link to your phone, even if you go to change your password. I finally got it to allow me to make a new password. In the morning I watched my account slip away.


Note: I doubt my Nigerian Prince is listening to this pod, but I’m holding my cards close to my face.


I want to shout out Brant Taylor for alerting the IG

I want to thank Gena Hoyt for realying a message from Garret Davis

Ryan Smith for responding to my text right away.
And anyone who posted to their stories about the situation, I was locked out.


This person is antithethical to our movement. We’re a community and you’ll stole something from our community. We’re not done with.

Ok, go sign up for that newsletter and I’ll update you guys on my next move in a couple days.

Yeah, it’s not all bad, season three coming soon!

That’s all I got

Later