When Your Art Page Gets Hacked

I got hacked. Lost my art page and a little bit of trust along with it

There’s nothing quite like that gut-punch moment when you realize your Instagram art page – the one you’ve spent years building – has been hacked. Commandeered.  Taken over.  All your efforts in those posts, connections, and quiet moments of sharing your work with people who genuinely care about it… are suddenly out of your control and replaced with spam posts!

It’s frustrating, infuriating, and honestly, a little heartbreaking. You pour so much of yourself into your online spaces. It’s not just “social media” – it’s our gallery, our portfolio and often our community.

The worst part? The scams keep getting smarter.  They have become targeted and plausible.  Fake “collaboration” offers, messages from “Instagram support,” or too-good-to-be-true art opportunities — all aimed at getting you to click, share, or hand over access.  It’s exhausting to stay on guard.

Lessons Learned

A few lessons I’ve learned (the hard way) and hopefully never have to learn again:

• Never click links from DMs, even if they look official. (This is where I went wrong)
• Turn on two-factor authentication — immediately.
• Back up your images and captions elsewhere.
• Report and block scam accounts that impersonate artists or galleries.

Add insult to injury

I was really lucky.  I was able to catch it on time to salvage my site.  Changed the passwords for a third time and reclaimed my site.  Then a “stranger” reached out.  Overly friendly and offering to help secure my site.  I said I’m good thanks – he persisted. He asked me if the hackers got my site through phone number or by changing my email.   

Good questions and I went HMMMMM.  And I blocked him from Messenger.  Then I received a new follower – guess who? I looked at his account  – only 1 follower.  So I blocked him and any new account he may create.  I’m pretty sure that it was this “person” who hacked my account in the first place and was now trying to get it back!

So now the traffic on my web site suddenly has gone wild.  From countries so far from here that they should not know a “helen in Canada who paints”.  Hoping it’s not an indication of more hacking attempts to follow. All this after my LinkedIN account was hacked and not able to be restored. The fear is real. I really think they target you and keep pounding.  So discouraging and no fun at all.

The fallout:

• My Instagram no longer connects to my WordPress website (I’m still working on it)
• Loss of followers – a disappointing amount of lost followers
• I now have trust issues. The bad guys will often email you from pretty impressive spoof sites that are difficult to differentiate if it is really from Meta or not.

I am convinced that by sharing these experiences we can help to protect each other. Raising awareness and by artists supporting artists – that’s the real network that can’t be hacked.

And now for something soul restoring:

Tidal Keepsake

A walk on the beach is how I restore my soul. 

I love the smells and the repetitive sound of the waves. Gentle or crashing I love them all.  I keep my eyes peeled for treasures.  Whether it is birds to photograph or finding a piece of sea glass. All treasures.

But when I happen across a collection of gathered shells – they stop me in my tracks. And I photograph them knowing they will one day be the focus of yet another mussel shell painting.

There’s something quietly moving about finding a cluster of mussel shells along the shore. They are empty now, but still revealing with that deep ocean blue. Pearlescent. Each one catches the light a little differently, like fragments of a story the sea decided to leave behind.

When I painted Tidal Keepsake, I wanted to capture that mix of stillness and memory.  The feeling of standing by the shore after the tide has gone out, when everything looks both touched and abandoned. The shells, the rippled sand, the faint salt haze in the air  it’s all part of the same  rhythm that helps me to slow down and live in the moment.

Until next time – say safe out there!