Did I just dodge a hacker?

[Eddo Rogue]

I have an instagram, on which I mostly use as a portfolio posting my finished work projects...and sometimes random cool or funny stuff...never anything too personal or telling, so as not to compromise my quasi privacy even further.

My account is private, so they have to request and be approved to follow me and see my posts.

I get a request to follow from what appears to be a gal from the group. It appeared she was friends w/ the people I hang out with in real life...maybe seen her at a gathering among the wife/gf circle...anyways I approved and right away got a message giving some story about how her account got deleted and she is rebuilding her account and I came up as a suggestion (I asked how she found me).

I replied not a problem, as long as I don't have to do anything. That's when it got weird. She replied there is a link I need to click so can get her account unlocked or something. It sounded fishy so I kinda tuned it out and got into defense/escape plan mode. Fortunately, she was unable to send the link, because it required my phone number, which I did not add. She asked me to add it and remove it after (I explained my reclusive nature and that I dont want my phone number published) .

She became very persistent about my adding phone number to my profile. I explained to her that I am a moron when it comes to social media, and can barely post a pic. She did not relent, until I said I have someone who manages my social media for me, and they will handle this during the next update meeting. That made the messages stop (finally).

Later that Im checking emails and see that Instagram sent me a password change request email. Thats when I put 2 and 2 together and realized I just dodged a hacker.

I am just wondering why me? My account sucks (not many posts/reel or followers/followees) and I hardly ever go on it.

Also wondering if I need to do anything now, like change my password or let Instagram people know what happened.

Also kinda worried if the user duped any of my friends. Most of whom are friends in real life I see often.

 

[superj]

no idea. i don't have instagram or tweeeter or anything like that but it sure sounds like you choose correctly when dealing with that hacker

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Tweeter is pointless. Instagram has actually come in handy for work stuff, I've gotten calls for more work after posting my previous work. Its not so bad when you are not an attention whore.

 

[oldgeek]

Changing passwords is just a good thing to do anyway, but do not do it in response to an email. Always go to the website or use the app on your device.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Changing passwords is just a good thing to do anyway, but do not do it in response to an email. Always go to the website or use the app on your device.

Pretty sure I forgot my original password. Ill probably reset it all in one shot, but might wait awhile. Still have to un add or block or whatever to this person and maybe warn some friends...

 

[DILLARD000]

FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram,.... all such overhyped\intrusive "SocialMedia" apps\websites
just seem to be little more than GossipParlors on Steroids,
intentionally designed to tease people into posting way too much personal info onto public billboards.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram,.... all such overhyped\intrusive "SocialMedia" apps\websites
just seem to be little more than GossipParlors on Steroids,
intentionally designed to tease people into posting way too much personal info onto public billboards.

It does take some boundries to keep it professional. I use instagram as my lazy mans portfolio of projects. The rest of it is pretty useless. I had a facebook for a bit when it was a thing, but since you cant delete it, I just havent logged in since windows 7 lol.

Remember back when TV was the devil? But then they started using them to teach in classrooms.

Sad thing about social media is it could have been useful, but corporations and the attention starved idiots that feed them ruined it.

Ya know its funny a tree fell over, and I wanted to post a cool pic or video of my Stihl chainsaw in action...But My Kalifornia trauma kicked in....what if this isnt just a regular pine, but a protected tree of some sort? (we have many in Commiefornia)...What if some tree hugger catches wind and raises hell on my nice quiet simple little life? What if the city wants to yellow tag me until they investigate and find out if thios tree was protected and on my property line? Los Angeles is very slow/corrupt, I could be homeless at my expense for months over a fallen tree, They could even just take everything I own and/or let it get robbed, and I could do nothing about it...seeing as how any money I had is now theirs and my accounts are frozen until they find out about this tree. I gotta get out of L.A. before it makes me paranoid and crazy. Sound like too late lol. Moral is I stick to work related postings, and it seems to be useful.