How to recover a hacked LinkedIn account

Having your social media account hacked can be an annoying experience, but with a hacked LinkedIn account, there’s also the risk of the hacker damaging your professional reputation by making unwanted changes to your Profile and publishing inappropriate posts.

Adding to the frustration, you may find yourself in a ‘Catch 22’ situation where you cannot access your LinkedIn account because it has been hacked, and the methods for obtaining help and contacting LinkedIn for assistance require you to be logged in. However, the good news is that there are several methods to contact LinkedIn and regain access to your account.

I suggest that you try the first two together which should work but if you’re not making progress then try one or more of the other methods of contacting LinkedIn and recovering your account.

But before this it’s worth checking all your devices to see if you’re still logged on to linkedin.com or the LinkedIn app. If so, change your password as soon as possible, set up two-step authentication, log out of all devices (Settings/Sign in & security/Where you’re signed in/ End these sessions) and you’re all set to log in again and use LinkedIn as normal.

1. Contact LinkedIn via Report Unauthorized Account Access or Changes Form

For several of LinkedIn’s Contact options you need to be logged in but you can go directly to the this LinkedIn support page (see below) whose purpose is to report unauthorised account access or changes, via this link: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/ask/TS-RHA

Enter your name and email address, then complete the rest of the form as indicated. Under “What can we help you with today?” explain that you can’t access your account and ask for assistance so that you can recover your LinkedIn account.

2. Ask a colleague or friend to report your hacked LinkedIn account

Ask a colleague or friend who has a LinkedIn account to log in, visit your Profile, select More then Report/Block then Report (Person) or Entire Account then select This account has been hacked and then Submit.

3. Get in touch via LinkedIn’s X account

If you have an account on X, try reaching out to LinkedIn via their official X account @LinkedInHelp. Briefly explain your issue and ask for assistance plus make sure your following the account so they can DM you with a private message.

4. Get in touch via LinkedIn’s Facebook Page

If you’re on Facebook, try contacting LinkedIn via their official Facebook Page (https://facebook.com/LinkedInUK). Explain that your LinkedIn account has been hacked and ask for help in restoring your account.

5. Send a message via LinkedIn’s Company Page

You’ll need assistance from a colleague or friend for this one. They can log a support ticket on your behalf at: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/solve. Note that LinkedIn won’t communicate with them about someone else’s account, but at least a support ticket has been opened and you can chase for progress.

6. Log a support ticket

For my final suggestion, once again you’ll need some assistance. Ask your colleague or friend to visit LinkedIn’s Company Page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/linkedin. Here they should click Message, select Support as the Conversation topic and then explain that your account has been hacked under Compose message.

By following these steps, you should be able to contact LinkedIn and recover your hacked account. It can be a bit of a wait and typically full recovery can take up to a week. It’s likely that your LinkedIn profile will be taken offline during the recovery process so don’t panic when this happens. In fact, it’s a positive sign that recovery is under way.

Secure your account

Once your account has been restored, it’s important to ensure that you change your password and enabling two-step authentication.

You should also review your Profile, Page and Ad account if you have one, to make sure no updates, posts or other unwanted activity has taken place.

If you need further assistance with any specific step, feel free to get in touch.