Tempting as it might be, don’t.
I think my boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse is cheating on me. I want to hack into their email/WhatsApp/Facebook/other account and find out what he/she/they is/are doing behind my back. Can you help me?
Can you get me the password for *****@hotmail.com/yahoo.com/facebook.com? This person’s been saying really bad things about me and I want to hack in and teach him/her/them a lesson.
I’ve lost the password for *****@hotmail.com. Could you please find it and send it to *****@hotmail.com? It’s really my account. Honest.
A family member has passed away, and I’d like to retrieve whatever was in his/her/their email account before it gets deleted for lack of use. But I don’t have the password. Can you get it for me?
These are oversimplifications of many variations on the same basic question.
People want to hack into other people’s accounts, or even their own, for a variety of reasons. Some are perfectly legitimate. Others, not so much. And others are just blatant attempts at theft, harassment, or revenge.
My answer is always the same.
Hacking into accounts
Hacking into someone’s account — even your own — is never the answer. It’s wrong, illegal, and I can’t help you do it anyway. Only the service can recover your account. The real solution? Secure your accounts now, before you ever need to get back in.
No. Just… no
For the record, my answer is no.
- I cannot and will not retrieve a password for you.
- I cannot and will not hack an account for you.
- I cannot and will not help you hack some account.
I have many reasons for taking this position, but the biggest reason is clear:
I can’t be any clearer.
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Why not?
There are many reasons for my position.
- It’s unethical.
- It’s very likely illegal.
- It’s almost certainly immoral.
- It destroys trust.
- Revenge is stupid and childish.
- You could be lying to me.
- Besides: I literally don’t have the ability to do it.
Legitimate requests
What if you have a truly, honestly, legitimate need?
I still cannot help you.
I’m not able to prove you have the right to access the account. I don’t have the technology to get or set your password. Only the service does. Only Microsoft can reset a Microsoft account password; only Google can do it for Google accounts; only Facebook can reset Facebook accounts. You get the idea.
Go to the service in question, and only the service in question, for account recovery options.
Legitimate requests with no available support
What if you have a legitimate request, but the service provides no means to act on it?
First: that’s typical for free services. You get what you pay for.
Second: if there is no supported way to get access, or the supported ways don’t work, you can’t get access to the account. Period. You are out of luck.
If you’re trying to hack back into your own account, you’ve probably lost the account forever. It’s no longer your account, or it never was in the first place.
In extreme cases, the service you’re attempting to get into may listen to lawyers and officers of the court, if you have the legal standing and can afford to go that route.
The real solutions
Take action to prevent being locked out of your own accounts before there’s a problem.
- Secure your own account to keep it from getting hacked.
- Add recovery information so you can get back in if it does, and keep the recovery information up to date.
- Back up the information in your account so you won’t lose anything if you lose the account.
- Consider a paid account with real support for when problems arise.
A note about hacking “services”
Anyone who says they can reset or retrieve your password or hack into someone else’s account for you should not be trusted.
Articles and videos on this topic attract comment spam from individuals offering their “hacking services” (or praising some such service that they claim has helped them).
Do. Not.
As desperate as you may be, do not engage. They can’t help you and are generally just scams to get your money.
We try to remove those comments within 24 to 48 hours, but if you see such a comment below, ignore it.
Do this
Be it your account or someone else’s, hacking is never the answer.
Don’t even try.
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On a related subject … and if this is too off-topic feel free to remove it … I learned that on a major site, a very technically proficient … (your comment that revenge is stupid, childish and unethical applies here) very bright individual whom I never thought would be capable of something like this, got mixed up in a group dispute. They obtained a lot of personal information of someone whose screen name was only their first name and given location was a large city. They were able to get their address, phone #, name of ex-spouse, location of employment, name of parents and were disseminating this information in private chatrooms. Upon this being made public, massive reporting did not cause the service to suspend their account! I still cannot understand that, nor how they were able to get all that from just a first name and city! I find that very concerning.
Ahem… Isn’t I’ve Lost the Password to My Windows Administrator Account. How Do I Get it Back? a form of hacking into an account…???
In a way, yes. While this article is mostly discussing online account (and the never-ending stream of requests I get), breaking into a Windows computer can be viewed similarly.
In the case of Windows it’s important people know the technique exists. Of course the information could be used for evil (in which case it would be wrong), it can also be a lifesaver at times.
Yes. Any Windows version since XP with a local login. For computers with a Windows account login, you can reset the password by going to Outlook.com and resetting your Windows account password.
It’s the same, only different 🙂 . This method only works if you have the computer in your possession. In most cases, it’s the computer owner who has possession. Unfortunately, it can be used for hacking a computer.
Laurence brought up the issue of accessing the accounts of deceased relatives. The best way to address this is pre-planning.
I have developed an ICE (In Case of Emergency) Plan for my wife, which includes the location of and password to the software password vault. When I’m gone, or hospitalized, she will have access to whatever she needs.
If you haven’t already done this for your loved ones, please do! It’s a good way to say “I love you”.
See also: Preparing For The Ultimate Disaster
thank you, I know this could be illegal but sometimes you neeeed to hack into something. I am a mother and i am looking and protecting my child i want to make sure he’s okay.
If you mean get into your son’s computer, that’s possible but if you reset the password, he’ll be locked out.
I’ve Lost the Password to My Windows Administrator Account. How Do I Get it Back?
If the password is short enough, running a rainbow table program such as OPH Crack would reveal the password.
How do I determine, not reset, the Windows administrator password?
Neither of these methods would work if he’s using a Microsoft account and PIN to log in.
Well, what if your account has been hacked, can you just hacked it back you can regain access to your account? Recently, my IG was hacked and I have tried so many ways to get it back, but I can’t anymore. They changed the password and email to the account but the username is the same. And I tried all those steps and contacting Instagram itself and nothing has been done. What should I do?
If you’ve tried all the supported approaches for account recovery, and none of them work, then it’s no longer your account. My advice is move on. And no, hacking is never the answer.
Hi, I was wondering how is that the hackers get into my account, changed all, my password, email, and so forth when I ask Facebook to help me, they send the recovering code to the hacker’s email address, that helps him/they not me. now I received a note from Facebook saying that they are suspending my account for good in 20 days. so, what I do now?
This happens. If the Facebook account recovery process can’t be made to work, then I don’t have any alternatives for you. It’s not your account any more.
Thank you for re-posting this and all the similar item(s) you have over the years, because when ever I see an item about account recovery anywhere, I take a few minutes to check that my various account recovery settings are up to date, and while I’m at it if anything’s outdated, update it/them. While I try to remember to perform these checks at least quarterly, it’s easy to forget, and items such as this one remind me to do my checks.
I know how important these recovery codes are because when I updated my phone this last time, I failed to back up my Microsoft authenticator app on my old phone before I wiped it after getting my new phone set up, so when I installed the Microsoft Authenticator app on my new phone, nothing was available to recover so it took me weeks to recover. The good thing is that I learned my lesson, so now I have recovery options set up on all my important accounts where available, and I’ve taken measure to switch out a few that offered nothing for ones that did. Finally, I have an encrypted file where I keep any information I may need to recover any of those accounts, using a passphrase I’ll remember to secure it (the file).
My advice:
1. If an account’s important to you, make it as secure as you can, 2FA, passkey, etc.
Set up and record notes on any recovery options you choose for the account.
If the account doesn’t offer any recovery options, find a replacement!
2. Take the above steps for each account that you consider important.
Use a password manager to securely store passwords for all your accounts.
For important accounts, store any recovery information you have with it’s password.
We all have accounts that are important to us. For me, it’s my Microsoft account, SSA account log-in credentials, accounts for my medically related services, email account(s), and a few others. If we fail to set up account recovery options, and record whatever information we’ll need to recover it somewhere safe, such as in the notes fields for those accounts in our password managers, or at the least, on paper, and locked in a safe or fire-proof box in our home, we may lose that account and access to the service(s) represented for good. That recovery information may do more than provide a way to recover the account, it may also provide a way to prove that you are who you claim to be if your identity is ever stolen.
I can’t stress the importance for setting up and securely recording recovery information for these accounts enough. Losing access to our important accounts, and their associated services can be a life-changing event!
Ernie