Blog Layout

Social media account vandalism after you pass on

Remember Blue • December 15, 2020

Read Time: 5 min

Have you ever logged in to your favorite social media site to see various posts or messages that you did not send? You are not alone, many people have had their accounts been hacked. A recent survey revealed that 22% of internet users said that their online accounts have been hacked at least once, while 14% reported they were hacked more than once. 


Luckily most users regularly login to their profiles and can limit the damage a hacker can potentially cause. However, what would happen if your profile was hacked if you have passed on. Would there even be any value for someone to want to hack a deceased user's profile? The answer is yes.

There is a large market place for fake and stolen Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even email accounts. A real person would have created real-life relationships, interactions and data associated with their account. Regardless of whether the person is alive or deceased, a real person's account is of more value to hackers than fake accounts. Getting access to an account of a deceased individual is however much easier for hackers when compared to an account of an active user. After all, the deceased person won’t be able to flag up any suspicious activity.

What could a hacker potentially do with your account after you have died? Hackers can potentially: 

  • Access information about your friends and family networks
  • Use your account to scam or extort your friends and family
  • Spread malware
  • Post erroneous, vulgar, or inappropriate things and making it sound like it's coming from you

In 2015, fake Twitter accounts were created by using the accounts of dead people for a hate campaign against the journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown. More recently in 2018, 50 million Facebook accounts security was compromised and in 2020 several high profile Twitter accounts were hacked as part of a bitcoin scam. After you pass on, your social media profiles are even more vulnerable.


If your family and friends do not approach the various social media provider with the proof that you have passed on and instructions to close or memorialize your account, your various profiles are at risk.   

With Remember Blue you can store important passwords along with instructions for your various digital profiles. These passwords and instructions can be released to someone you trust after you pass on.

© Remember Blue 2020
Share by: