Relationships

My Ex Used My Social Media Accounts To Get Revenge After Our Breakup

by Danielle Ferrara

Getting multiple texts saying, "WTF is your Instagram about?" might be the scariest text one can receive. That's especially true when you haven't posted an Instagram in five days. It was your typical Wednesday, just a day after your average college breakup. I thought everything ended in a mature manner, as we were 20 and 22, but to my surprise apparently it wasn't as civil as I had thought.

When I finally viewed my Instagram, I received a notification saying that I was locked out from my account and my password and email was changed. I immediately panicked, as my friends sent me screen shots of the six Instagram posts that were uploaded onto my account.

Within these posts were confidential conversations and screen shots I had said weeks prior to this occurrence. It contained personal information regarding my feelings toward my relationship with my then-boyfriend, and how I wanted to break up with him soon.

These were posted one after the other on my Instagram page, and at this point I had been locked out and could not delete them. Thankfully, Instagram emailed me and asked if I had made these changes. I verified with my phone number that it was not me; I changed my password and finally got hold of my account and deleted the posts.

I thought that was the end of it, and didn't even question who could have posted them. I then went onto my GroupMe and asked everyone if they knew what exactly was going on. That's when I realized someone was still actively on my GroupMe account, privately messaging the screen shots to random people I go to school with.

The person then began writing in my sorority chat, and I was starting to get pretty scared. I could never think someone would do such a thing to me, especially because I like being on good terms with everyone. That's when one of the screen shots revealed who was doing all of this; the screenshot had the name of my ex boyfriend's best friend pop up on the top, and it said something regarding Instagram.

That was enough evidence for my friends and I. But still, it was strange because I had never given him any of my passwords or even signed in on my social media on his devices. I finally got ahold of my group me account and changed the password, along with my Snapchat in which he used the new "memories" feature to post the screenshots to my hundred of Snapchat friends.

Once I got hold of all my social media accounts and the hacker had no more access to my profiles, I received a text from my ex boyfriend that went along the lines of, "Why would you post those messages, great way for the world to find out you broke up with me?"

He was trying to put the blame on me and twist the whole story that I was the one who embarrassed him. Meanwhile, he's the one who publicized my private words and thoughts to over 1,000 of my followers.

So after this happened, I was terrified thinking of what he may do next. I changed all of my passwords and my best friend said to call the cops. I filed a police report, and the cops were so helpful and informed me that filing a report such as this can be extremely beneficial to your safety. If God forbid anything else happens, there's already a report and prior information.

On the end of this wild day, I began to think about everything before I fell asleep. I felt so hurt thinking someone who once cared about me would try to sabotage my reputation. What if I was unable to take my Instagram and Snapchat posts down? They would be on the internet forever and my image would forever be tainted.

Through all of this, I learned not to trust people so quickly and easily. I tend to think and hope that everyone has a good intention, but the sad truth is some people do not. Now all of my accounts have extremely difficult passwords, and I'll never share any personal information with a friend or significant other.