Hacking a user account (social networks, email...)

Verified 07 August 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Someone has taken control of your profile on a social network or your email (mailbox)? This is a user account hack. You can take steps to remedy this situation. You also have the opportunity to report these actions and obtain redress from your damage. Here are the steps to follow.

Step-by-step approach

Hacking a user account means, for a malicious individual, taking control of your account (e-mail, profile on a social network or on an online sales site, etc.) with the aim of stealing personal and/or banking information from you or to make fraudulent use of it (swindle, impersonation, phishing, etc.).

This is called cyber attack.

Example :

Someone is hacking into your email account. He uses your email address to ask your contacts to pay him money. He is guilty of impersonation and fraud.

There are several reasons to suspect that you are the victim of an account hack. This is particularly the case when:

  • You can no longer log in to your account with your credentials
  • You find emails in your sent messages that you did not write
  • Your contacts claim to have received emails from you when you have not sent them
  • You notice that contacts have been added or removed from your account without your knowledge
  • You receive a notification that indicates an attempt to connect to your account from a new device
  • You see a device in your connection history that you don't know about
  • Personal information (name, first name, date of birth, phone number, etc.) or your account settings have been changed and you did not make these changes.

Change the password for the hacked account

If your user account is hacked, you must change your password on the platform on all other accounts for which you would have used the same password.

If you can't, you can report the hack to the platform on which your email is located.

Some online platforms have their own reporting links, including:

Support from the service in question helps you access the hacked user account and change your password.

Please note

Following the password change, you can set up a dual authentication device if the online communication service concerned allows it. Therefore, each time you log in to your user account, you will receive an additional PIN by SMS: titleContent or by email.

Prevent further cyber attacks

If you can log in to your user account, you must verify that all the information you provided during registration (name, first name, email address, phone number, etc.) is correct.

It is possible that the hacker has modified your personal information in order to maintain control over your account and/or communications.

In this case, you must first gather as much evidence as possible (for example, by taking screenshots) and then delete all the saved information fraudulently by the hacker.

Warning  

You should also tell your contacts that you have been hacked to prevent them from being hacked as well. cyber attack.

If one of them informs you that they have received a fraudulent email from you and that a request for money has been made, they can make a report and/or file a complaint on THESEE: titleContent.

If your credit card details are accessible from the hacked user account, you must notify your bank as soon as possible and, if necessary, object to your credit card.

If the hacker can access your RIB: titleContent and carry out a bank transfer, you can also challenge this transfer to your bank.

In the event that the hacker has used your bank details to make transactions (e.g. online purchases), you can request a refund.

Example :

When registering on an online sales site, you have consented to your credit card details being recorded on this site. Your account is hacked so that the hacker has access to your personal and banking information. In this case, you can file an objection on your credit card and possibly ask for a refund.

Any person, major or minor, can report the hacking of a user account on the platform THESEE: titleContent.

Report user account hacking (THESEE)

For this alert to be admissible, it is essential that request for money was made from your account (example: The hacker asked your contacts for money from one of your social networks' e-mail messages.)

However, it is not necessary for a payment and/or a collection to have taken place.

When you report on the platform THESEE: titleContent, some information is required, including:

  • Some of your personal information (surname, first name, address, etc.)
  • The address of the hacked profile or email
  • Detailed description of the situation (e.g. date the hack occurred, recipient of messages sent from your email address)
  • Information about the hacker
  • Amount requested by the hacker from your contacts
  • Screenshots.

FYI  

Some information (e.g. the address of the pirated account) is mandatory.

The reporting is not a complaint. It consists solely in informing the investigation services of theThe offense and to provide them with information to identify the perpetrator.

If you report your user account being hacked, you will not be kept informed of the outcome of your report.

Who shall I contact

  • Info Scams

    By telephone

     0 805 805 817

    Monday to Friday from 9 am to 6:30 pm.

    Toll-free dial-in number (free from the UK).

To the extent that you are a victim of infringement, you can hire the criminal liability from the hacker by filing a complaint.

As a result of your complaint, this individual may be prosecuted and then sentenced to criminal sanctions by the correctional court.

File a complaint

You can file a complaint online (par THESEE: titleContent) if a request for money was made to your contacts from the hacked user account (it is not necessary that a payment and/or collection has taken place).

In other cases, you can file a complaint by traveling to the police station or gendarmerie brigade of your choice or by writing to the public prosecutor.

The deadline for filing a complaint is 6 years from the fact-finding commission.

Please note

If you don't know the identity of the hacker, you can file a complaint against X.

Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement

Online

You can file a complaint online from the platform THESEE: titleContent.

File a complaint for hacking a user account (THESEE)

As soon as your complaint is validated by professionals in this online service, you receive an information notice in your personal space “Service-Public.fr”.

This notice gives you information on the follow-up to your complaint, the assistance you can receive (e.g. assistance from a lawyer) and the means to obtain compensation.

You are also informed in case of identification and arrest of the perpetrator.

FYI  

If you are a minor, you cannot file a complaint on THESEE: titleContent.

On the spot

To file a complaint, you have to go to a police station or to the gendarme of your choice.

Who shall I contact

Police or gendarmerie services are obliged to register your complaint if you are a victim of infringement.

When you file a complaint, you are received and heard by the police or the gendarmerie. At the end of this interview, you will receive a receipt and a copy of your complaint if you request it.

Please note

If you are a minor, you can report the facts at the police station or gendarmerie brigade of your choice. If you wish to obtain compensation, you must  obligatory  be accompanied by your legal representatives (e.g. your parents) who shall constitute a civil party in your place.

By postal mail

You can file a complaint with the public prosecutor.

To do this, you must send an email to the court of law of the place of the offense or of the domicile of the offender.

Who shall I contact

Your mail should include the following:

  • Civil status information (your surnames, first names, etc.) and full contact details (address and telephone number)
  • Detailed account of the facts, date and place of the offense
  • Name of the alleged perpetrator if known (otherwise, the complaint will be filed against X)
  • Name and address of any witnesses to the offense
  • Description and provisional or definitive estimate of the damage
  • Evidence (example: screenshots)
  • Possible desire to constitute yourself civil party.

You can use the following mail template:

File a complaint with the public prosecutor

You can send your complaint by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, by simple letter or by letter followed.

One receipt will be given to you as soon as the Public Prosecutor's Office has registered your complaint.

Please note

If you're a minor, you can report the facts, in writing, to the public prosecutor. If you wish to obtain compensation, your legal representatives (e.g. your parents) must register civil party.

Obtain the conviction of the hacker

The filing of a complaint leads to an investigation that can result in the conviction of the perpetrator of the hacking by the correctional court.

The penalties incurred by the hacker depend on the intent of the hacker when they hacked your account and therefore on the nature of the the offense that he committed.

In particular, he may be sentenced for:

  • Impersonation whether he has used your personal information (e.g. your email address) for malicious purposes
  • Scamming if he deceived your contacts by posing as you in order to obtain a good or a sum of money
  • Collecting personal data by fraudulent, unfair or unlawful means if he has stolen personal and/or banking data from you

If you constitute yourself civil party, you can also get damages.

FYI  

Since May 21, 2024, a person convicted of identity theft on the internet may be banned from the online platform (example: a social network) from which she committed this infringement.

As soon as they are informed of this conviction, the providers of the online service concerned (SFR, Orange, Bouygues Télécom, etc.) must block the accounts of the perpetrator of the identity theft and ensure that he cannot create new ones.

This ban is valid for a maximum period of 6 months. This period may be extended to one year in case of recurrence.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

  • To know your rights as a victim of an Internet scam

    Info Scams

    By telephone

     0 805 805 817

    Monday to Friday from 9 am to 6:30 pm.

    Toll-free dial-in number (free from the UK).

  • To get help in your efforts as a victim of an offense

    116 006 - Victim Assistance Number

    Listen, inform and advise victims of crime and their families.

    By telephone

    116,006

    Free call

    Open 7 days a week from 9am to 7pm

    The service can also be accessed by calling the +33 (0)1 80 52 33 76 (Normal pricing number).

    By email

    victimes@france-victimes.fr