Mr Faisel said:"I'm at my wits' end. Even if I create a new account, how can I gain back my followers? The Instagram algorithm has changed and it is much more difficult now."Strategy professor Lawrence Loh from the National University of Singapore Business School said Instagram users with a sizeable following, such as home-based businesses, are easy targets for scammers.
"Home-based businesses are also not large enough that they would have the resources to take action against scammers even if they lose their accounts." Meta, Instagram's parent company, said it continues to protect its users from hackers and scams. The company was aware of Mr Faisel's case and was in the process of recovering his account.