My Dr Nikki Starr Instagram Account got Hacked and I had to pay a ransom or else...
“Holy $#!+ WTFFFF Are you KIDDING me???!!! NOooo wayyy!!”🤬😳😭
I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was in literal horror, shock, disbelief...
I opened my gmail account to see my Instagram account @drnikkistarr had been hacked!
They changed my handle to drnikkghjghjgaj
And the email address too 😱
Then sent me this direct email:
“Hi. We got access to your Instagram account. To restore (return) it to you , write to us on our mail. Your time account is blocked through your instagram settings. We are waiting for a response from you within 2 hours, if we do not receive a response, then we delete all information from your account (delete photo) and we sell your account.
And we see when you read our message and from that moment on we wait 2 hours. We apologize for this access, we are waiting for your response.”
No EFFING way!!! I cried. I yelled. I cussed.
And listen, I gave up cussing in 2016 but I needed to say the F word a bunch of time to clear the anger and pain from my body.
They wanted a ransom.
They wanted me to buy Bitcoin and send it to their electronic wallet.
I contacted my marketing manager: “Emergency!!!” He told me bitcoins are >$50K and that it would be cheaper to pay for ads and get new followers.
But it wasn’t about followers for me.
It was about years of pouring my heart and soul onto my page. Sharing posts is my therapy and my love. I share who I am here. It’s like my evolution over time has been captured on this Instagram account. 💔
I can’t imagine when people have to deal with ransoms over people they love. Here I was in turmoil over years of hard work and love letters to the Universe.💔
My dad said not to pay terrorists and also I may not get my account back either way.
But I had to at least try because what if I did?
I tried all the ways imaginable to use Instagram to help me get my account back but sadly got this in reply:
“Hi, The account you're referring to has been removed. We're unable to restore accounts that have been permanently deleted. We're sorry for any inconvenience this causes.
Thanks, The Instagram Team”
Now I was in a panic. I even cried to my parents maybe I need to give up on my mission and just find a rich guy and live a simple life. 😫
My parents found blogposts from other people this happened to. Apparently a Russian crew created a phishing site pretending to be a brand looking for influencers. I fell for the bait and entered my login details into a FAKE Instagram site.
I asked them how much, they said $3K. Whew. Ok. Better than 50K.
“Prove to me my account still exists.” They sent me a screen shot of my account in Russian but that didn’t really prove anything.
Then I repeat, “How much?”
They say, $300.
Whaattt? I smile.
Sunshine through the storm.
“God loves me.” I thought to myself.
“Money is my friend.” I affirm.
So I whipped out my debit card and get to Bitcoin apps. The first one failed.
Mind you every few minutes I’m getting a “?!” email from the IG Kidnappers. So many loop holes under pressure, like I’m trying to save my baby aka my account that I’ve nurtured over 8+years.
Suddenly a guy who I’ve gone on a few dates with over the past 8 years (yes interesting timeline) calls me.
So soon the rich man who could save me from my life arrived??? I thought to myself chuckling at the timing of events.
We haven’t talked in months but he calls to tell me that he thinks of me whenever he’s at the beach.
“Hey! That’s so nice. I’m in the middle of a crisis!” I tell him what happened, yelling like a wild woman.
“Don’t pay! They aren’t giving you your account back”
“Of course I’m paying! Take back what you said! Send positive thoughts through the ethers that I am getting it back! They lowered the ransom. It’s worth a shot.”
I click pay, but not so fast! Another hoop to jump through. I have to call my bank to approve the transaction.
The IG Kidnappers continue to assure me they don’t care about my account they just want the money.
Funny because I felt completely the opposite.
Finally the payment goes through and I send them an email with proof of payment:
Congrats! 🥳 your money is sent
Thank you for restoring my account 🙏🏽
They reply: 5 min
20 min later I reply: hello?
I start to worry a little. Nope. I will not feed the negative thoughts. 🙅🏻♀️
Instead I decided to go into a 20 min mediation because I am an adrenaline, emotionally exhausted mess. My head is killing me and I’m SO tired. My brain feels like mush.
I turn on my high frequency light therapy machine, lay down and ground into the Earth.
I then choose to feel into the gratitude I have for my account and all of my followers and all the experiences I had that were recorded on my page.
Finally I relax and trust.
When I sit up from my meditation the new login details to my account have been sent and I restore my account.
Wahoo!
And Woah!
Talk about emotional rollercoaster city.
The lessons I learned:
✨Definitely allow emotions to flow WHILE going through situations so they don’t get trapped in your body
✨Be mindful of what you say, especially when emotionally charged because words create as do thoughts
✨Stay positive and focus on the best possible outcome no matter the situation
✨Don’t put all your eggs in one basket aka focus on other places too like:
✨Grow my mailing list so that I’m not reliant on Instagram.
***‼️Enter your email here: https://drnikkistarr.kartra.com/page/joinmylist
to stay connected with me in case anything happens to this account and receive a free meditation too.
✨Have a back up account:
***‼️Follow me on my personal account too @nikkistarrnoce
***‼️Like my page on Facebook.com/drnikkistarr
✨Turn on 2 factor authentication!
✨Don’t enter login details via ANY links you receive in an email that claim to be an app. Go directly to the website or app
✨Celebrate and laugh things off
In the end I got to share an incredible story that taught me a lot and made me appreciate this space to share my heart even more!
Thanks for listening and I hope you learned something too!
With love,
Dr Nikki Starr