Viber, one of the most popular and well-known messaging apps in the world, is also a target for hackers looking to expose and get your personal information. If they hacked your Viber account and you can’t access it, there’s only one solution, and that’s contacting the company immediately.
How can someone hack my Viber account?
The easiest way for a hacker to get access to your Viber account is by sending you a PIN code, which then you’re giving to them (willingly). This can be done in a number of clever ways and I’ve seen them pitch different stories depending on the situation.
I’ve seen two different ways that hackers got access to some Viber accounts, and here’s both of them:
- They call you and tell you that they are from the tax office (or something related) and that they need to deposit some money into your account. They ask you to confirm it with the PIN you will receive on your Viber account.
- They call you about a second-hand product that you’re selling online, but they don’t want to pay with cash on delivery and instead, they tell you that it’s a present for someone they love. They ask for your bank account and after a few minutes, they call you and say that they were unable to deposit the money because your bank account didn’t let them. They ask you to send them the PIN code you’ve received in your Viber from the bank, so the payment can be accepted.
Whatever the reason, once you give them the PIN code, you give them direct access to your Viber account and all of your devices are getting disconnected.
That happened a few months ago when a friend of mine came for help because she was unable to login into her Viber account, and she couldn’t get the SMS code that was needed to access it. When I asked her what happened, she told me that she wanted to sell her PlayStation 4 through a Greek website, when someone called her and wanted to immediately pay.
She told her that he didn’t want to pay in the courier, and instead asked for her bank account to make the transfer. Once she gave the information, including her name, last name, and the iBAN number, he contacted her again after a few minutes saying that he was unable to send the payment, and his bank account was asking for a verification number.
He told her that she would get a PIN code in her Viber account, and she had to send that code to him so he’s bank could verify the transfer, so she did, and she got locked out of her Viber account a few seconds later.
why can’t I access my Viber account?
You’ve probably already tried countless times to reconnect your Viber account, only to notice that the code is never sent to you as an SMS, or the service no longer recognizes your phone number. It doesn’t really matter what error it shows you since it’s a complete block.
You see, when a hack is completed in a certain way, Viber’s security system figures it out and then blocks the phone number completely. That way, if it’s a hacker, he won’t be able to use the same account again, since every account on the service is necessarily linked to a phone number.
So both you and the hacker lose access to this account for maximum safety. To be able to regain access you’ll have to contact them, give them all of your personal information, and then wait for the instructions.
How to get access and restore a hacked Viber account
If you’ve tried many times to get access to your Viber account but you get a message that this account doesn’t exist or you simply never get the PIN code through SMS or email, you’ll need to stop right now because you may make things harder for yourself.
The steps below are the only steps I have seen that work and are effective. If you’re interested in regaining access to your account and making sure hackers don’t gain access to your other accounts, then it’s important to take some steps.
- Contact your bank: If you send a PIN code to the hacker, you’ll have to contact your bank and ask them to cancel or suspend your credit cards.
- Change your password(s): If you have reason to believe that the hackers may have got more information or got access to your other social media accounts, make sure you’ve changed and added something truly strong.
- Contact Viber: You need to fill out the contact form found on Viber’s official website, and make sure the title writes “My Viber account was hacked”.
It’s crucial to describe everything that happened to the Viber team in your first message. If you send a PIN code to the hacker, you’ll have to specify in detail how you did that, and what happened after.
The company will then inform you to try again. Once you do, you will either gain access to your account, or the same problem will occur. If it is not resolved, contact them again by replying to the email they sent you, stating that you are experiencing the same problem.
Viber will then either unblock your account or send you a unique code via SMS which you will then use to unblock the number and access your account once again.
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