What to do first
Pause before you reply to any offer of help you didn’t ask for. Then check the official route for your platform, such as the Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat help pages. If you’ve already contacted someone, stop sending information and read the warning signs below.
Step 1: Know the warning signs
- They contacted you first, often in comments or by DM.
- They ask for your password, a login code, or access to your email.
- They ask for payment in gift cards, crypto or by transfer before doing anything.
- They claim to have an inside contact or a special tool.
- They say the account will be deleted unless you act now.
- They push you to move to Telegram or WhatsApp.
Step 2: Understand how real recovery works
Genuine recovery uses the platform’s own forms: login help, identity checks with ID or a video selfie, and appeals inside the app. No outside party can force a platform’s decision. Anyone promising that they can is offering something that doesn’t exist.
Step 3: Check any helper, including us
Ask what exactly they’ll do, and whether they need your password. A legitimate adviser explains the official route, doesn’t ask for your login, doesn’t claim a connection inside the platform and doesn’t promise outcomes. Be wary of anything that sounds too good.
Step 4: If you’ve been scammed
Change the passwords of the account and its email, log out other sessions, and contact your bank about payments. Report the scammer to the platform and local authorities. Save screenshots of the conversation.
A typical scam conversation
It begins with a comment under your post or a DM from an account with a name like “Account Recovery Expert”, offering to get the account back. The first request is small, perhaps a screenshot, then your username, then “verification” through a code sent to your phone, which is really the login code for your own account. Next comes a fee in crypto or gift cards. After payment, there’s a second fee for “release”. Each step feels reasonable because the previous one cost you something. Recognising that escalation pattern is the best defence.
What not to do
- Don’t give anyone your login or codes.
- Don’t pay to “unlock” a recovery.
- Don’t be embarrassed. These scams are designed to catch careful people at a stressful moment.
Official sources
Meta and Snap update their help pages and flows often. Always follow the wording on your own screen and the current official Help Center. Unbanz is an independent service and is not affiliated with Meta, Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat.