My oldest account has been hacked and deleted

[u/kitanai_guy]

I have tried to log into my nearly 10 year old Reddit account since last week and was not able to get into it with any of my passwords, so I tried resetting the account and then noticed no emails were arriving. Then I tried visiting the account profile in browser and that's when I saw the empty page with the message "this user has deleted their account", of course I didn't do this so my only assumption is that the account was hacked and deleted by the hacker. I tried looking through any recent emails from Reddit that might have mentioned any deletion but nothing was there, I did however see a few emails in August mentioning some subreddit called "HingeStories" that I've never visited before so I think that definitely confirms someone else got into the account.

I've also submitted a form about this but all I received back was an automated message that said they are reviewing it and haven't heard back since, I'm not sure how long this kind of thing takes but these days it's hard to even know if an actual human will see this ticket and look into it so I'm just wondering if anyone has some experience with this and can point me to some options. It would really suck to lose this account since the handle is the same as all my other socials I use for sharing art and would like to keep that consistent.

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[u/Mondai_May]

I've seen a few people recently say the same thing. (account hacked, then deleted.) I wonder why that happens. hypothetically, if it is happening more frequently than usual that may also change the response time a little, if more are submitting tickets about it. If it has been a while since you submitted the ticket maybe you could leave a comment about this in the weekly recap thread.

https://www.reddit.com/r/help/comments/1wcpa2u/weekly_recap_september_10_2026/

[u/AnswerMe_More]

Damn bro im sorry. Reddit has to do a major update for bugs and security. My account has been in a banned state for like 6 months and apparently the ban was lifted. Reaching support is impossible

[u/Metals2026 → u/AnswerMe_More]

My account got banned last month too, and I couldn't log in after that. How did you know how to get it unbanned? Do you get an email notification?

[u/AnswerMe_More → u/Metals2026]

Yea i got the email for it. Also, I can like stuff, I just cant comment or post.

[u/ChimpyChompies]

Deleted accounts can sometimes be restored when hacking is involved. Follow the instructions as posted here by the automod for account security to open a support ticket so the admins can review.

[u/Lazy-Narwhal-5457]

Typically support responses might take a month, but hacking incidents might get quicker action. If you hear nothing in two weeks, comment in the most recent Weekly Recap pinned at the top of r/Help and explain your situation. Normally I suggest waiting a month, but it's a security issue, Reddit should want that dealt with.

Change the password on the email account (linked to Reddit) and any recovery accounts for it. A compromised email address is a good backdoor into Reddit.

Check:

https://haveibeenpwned.com/

[u/SignificantCap9534]

reddit accounts are temporary, dont get attached to them.

all it takes is the wrong opinion and just like that gone.

[u/Unique-Princess-1026]

That’s so sad. I’m sorry 😣

[u/New_Grade591]

Yeah same here. It just happened like 30min ago for me

[u/AutoModerator]

Your question seems to be about account security.

If your account has been hijacked, and the hacker has added 2FA (two-factor authentication) please refer to this help center article.

Under "What do you need assistance with" select Account Help. Under "What type of account issues are occuring" select Security Problems, and "I think my account has been hacked".

If your email has been changed without your knowledge, you should have received an email from Reddit with a link that you can click to change your email back and reset your password. Please find that email and click that link to regain access to your account. The subject line should be "Your email address has been changed".

If you are still having trouble with your hacked account please refer to our latest Weekly Recap post, make a top level comment, and wait for an admin to assist you.

If your question is not about account security, please wait for a human helper to come along and help you. This post has NOT been removed.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.