Recover a hacked email or social-media account
Resources, agencies and counties · resources
What this source covers
Follow the account provider recovery process and secure the account after access is restored.
How to use it
Who this route is for: People with suspected account compromise; use specialist safety planning first if account changes could alert an abusive person.
Prepare: Account username and provider; Provider security alerts; Recovery contact information you control; Evidence of unauthorized activity without exposing passwords
How to proceed:
1. Use a device you reasonably trust; update security software and check for malicious software as the FTC guide describes.
2. Follow the official provider account-recovery instructions linked from the FTC guide.
3. After access is restored, change the password, sign out other devices, enable two-factor authentication and check recovery contacts.
4. Remove unauthorized forwarding rules, review sent or deleted messages and warn contacts about fraudulent messages from the account.
Timing and notices: Begin recovery promptly after detecting unauthorized access; provider response and recovery requirements vary.
Read FTC account recovery steps: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recover-your-hacked-email-or-social-media-account?os=wtmbrGj5xBaH
Limits and questions to verify
No recovery service can promise success. Do not share passwords or verification codes with purported recovery agents. In an abuse situation, consider whether recovery changes could increase risk.
Procedure-navigation guidance reviewed 2026-10-11 against retained primary publisher evidence. Captured HTML/PDF and labeled web-tool extracts retain their own evidence types and hashes. Source review does not validate legal currentness, personal deadlines, eligibility, service availability or a complete filing packet.
Source: FTC hacked account recovery - exact web tool extraction; direct fetch returned 404 · https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recover-your-hacked-email-or-social-media-account?os=wtmbrGj5xBaH
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Stable record: resource_directory:resources:1723
Source file: data/source-evidence/2026-10-11/all-categories/2d5f0dcc1398253be32aeb3915ff3e08115a17528c3e39a7f0f6a4a53c2aea25.json
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Passage SHA-256: 6b3d465956ab4ca40c504a5c9052d550bb6a932ab45cfb0bcce95d99778b3357
Retained source evidence SHA-256: 2d5f0dcc1398253be32aeb3915ff3e08115a17528c3e39a7f0f6a4a53c2aea25
Source location: Procedure applicability, preparation, next steps, timing and limitations; statewide source; discovered from https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recover-your-hacked-email-or-social-media-account?os=wtmbrGj5xBaH
Source checked: 2026-10-11 (access date, not legal effective date)
Stored source content
What this source covers
Follow the account provider recovery process and secure the account after access is restored.
How to use it
Who this route is for: People with suspected account compromise; use specialist safety planning first if account changes could alert an abusive person.
Prepare: Account username and provider; Provider security alerts; Recovery contact information you control; Evidence of unauthorized activity without exposing passwords
How to proceed:
1. Use a device you reasonably trust; update security software and check for malicious software as the FTC guide describes.
2. Follow the official provider account-recovery instructions linked from the FTC guide.
3. After access is restored, change the password, sign out other devices, enable two-factor authentication and check recovery contacts.
4. Remove unauthorized forwarding rules, review sent or deleted messages and warn contacts about fraudulent messages from the account.
Timing and notices: Begin recovery promptly after detecting unauthorized access; provider response and recovery requirements vary.
Read FTC account recovery steps: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recover-your-hacked-email-or-social-media-account?os=wtmbrGj5xBaH
Limits and questions to verify
No recovery service can promise success. Do not share passwords or verification codes with purported recovery agents. In an abuse situation, consider whether recovery changes could increase risk.
Procedure-navigation guidance reviewed 2026-10-11 against retained primary publisher evidence. Captured HTML/PDF and labeled web-tool extracts retain their own evidence types and hashes. Source review does not validate legal currentness, personal deadlines, eligibility, service availability or a complete filing packet.
Cross-references
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No explicit source connection was found. This does not mean there are no relevant authorities.