Hack recovery LinkedIn

LinkedIn hacked or scammed?
Here’s what to do.

LinkedIn’s official recovery steps in plain English, plus how the fake recruiter and phishing scams work, since that’s usually how LinkedIn accounts get taken.

Watch for recovery scams. LinkedIn only offers phone support to some Premium subscribers, through a chat you start in its Help Center. Never call a number you found in a search, and never pay someone who offers to get your account back.

Report a hacked LinkedIn account Read LinkedIn’s guide

Locked out?
Try these in order.

If the hacker changed your email and phone, LinkedIn will ask you to prove who you are with a photo ID, so have one handy.

  1. Try Forgot password first

    On LinkedIn’s sign-in page, choose Forgot password and enter your email or phone number. If the reset reaches you, you’re back in.

  2. If they changed your email or phone

    Choose Can’t access this email, then Don’t have access to any of these. On a computer you’ll scan a QR code with your phone, then add a new email address.

  3. Verify it’s you with your ID

    LinkedIn uses a company called Persona. You photograph a valid government ID with your phone, sometimes with a selfie. LinkedIn says it doesn’t get your ID number or biometric data, and the data is generally deleted within 14 days.

  4. Report the hack

    Submit LinkedIn’s unauthorized account access form, say you’re locked out, and include the link to your profile. Answer anything LinkedIn support asks.

  5. Lock it down and clean up

    Once you’re back in, change your password, turn on two-step verification, and ask LinkedIn for its compromised account cleanup to remove what the hacker did.

Still logged in?
Lock it down now.

A hacked LinkedIn is usually used to message your connections with fake jobs or links, so act before they do.

  • Submit the account access form right away, even though you can still log in.
  • Change your password to one you use nowhere else.
  • Turn on two-step verification.
  • Open your active sessions and sign out of any you don’t recognize, or sign out everywhere.
  • Check your email addresses and phone numbers, and secure the email account tied to LinkedIn.
  • Look through your messages, posts and connections, then warn anyone the hacker contacted.

People who posted about getting hacked.

Their own public LinkedIn posts, shown with LinkedIn’s embed. None of them are Sociable members or endorse us.

    LinkedIn scams, explained by the people who caught them.

    Fake recruiters, fake interviews and phishing messages, in their own words. None of them are Sociable members or endorse us.

      Is one of these yours and you’d rather it weren’t here? Tap Is this you? to message us on Instagram and we’ll take it down within a day.

      How to spot
      a LinkedIn scam.

      These are the warning signs LinkedIn itself lists. Most hacked LinkedIn accounts start with one of them.

      LinkedIn’s job search safety guide

      • A job that’s too good to be true: high pay for little experience, or an offer with no interview.
      • A request for money for a background check, training, equipment or resume help.
      • Early requests for your SSN, bank details or ID photos, or any request for your password.
      • Pressure to move to WhatsApp, Telegram or an outside form right away.
      • A recruiter on a free email address, or links that don’t match the company’s real website.
      • A check to deposit, followed by a request to send some of the money back.
      • An urgent “policy violation” notice saying your account will be banned unless you click.
      • A download for an interview or test task, which can install malware that steals your logins.

      To report one: open the message or profile, choose More, then Report, then It’s spam or a scam. Forward phishing emails to phishing@linkedin.com. In the US you can also report it to the FTC and the FBI’s IC3.

      Never go through
      this alone again.

      • Connect through the platform you already use. Tap Connect and approve it inside Instagram. No passwords.
      • Alerts by text and in the app. The moment something looks wrong, you hear about it.
      • Recovery, or you get paid. If we can’t recover your account, you get paid up to $25,000.
      Join at $99 a year See how it works

      Founding price through December 31. Protection starts with Instagram on December 1, 2026, and LinkedIn follows January 1, 2027.