Two mothers have shared their devastation after losing “priceless” pictures of their children when Facebook and Instagram hackers hijacked their accounts.

Sharon Wignall, from South Darenth, lost 10 years of memories when her Instagram account was hacked on August 30.

The scammers entered her social media profile before changing the password and locking her out the account.

The 51-year-old, who has terminal cancer, says her Instagram then became flooded with fake images stating she had purchased a new home and a Mercedes through money made by Bitcoin mining.

In addition, the hackers accessed memories stored on her Instagram to post an old picture of Sharon at the beach, pretending that it was her in the moment.

She said: “Whereas at the moment I’m having chemotherapy and I have no hair - it felt really invasive.”

While the scammers attempted to hack her Facebook account too, she was quickly able to change her password, but her Instagram - filled with pictures of holidays, Christmasses and birthdays – was lost.

After her daughter Isabella reported the account as being hacked, it was eventually removed - with all photos disappearing with it.

Now, six weeks later, despite repeated attempts to contact Instagram’s customer support, Sharon has said she has had “no help from anybody” in retrieving her account and photos.

The mum-of-one told KentOnline: “I’ve got terminal cancer, and my daughter said it would have been nice to have that Instagram account when something happens to me.

“We’ve lost all our memories which we won’t ever get that back - it’s extremely upsetting and stressful.

“And there’s nobody to help you at all, that’s the frustrating part.”

As Sharon put trust in her account, many photos were removed from her camera roll in good faith, her believing them to be secure in her online profile.

“You think they are safe there”, she added.

As she undergoes chemotherapy weekly, the mum says the stress of trying to resolve the problem is a “headache” she didn’t need.

Unfortunately Sharon is not the only one to have been targeted by online hackers.

Luisa Tickner, of Bennetts Avenue, West Kingsdown, has lost “special” photos and videos of her grandchildren being born which she says she’ll “never get back”.

On July 6, she cried when discovering both her Facebook and Instagram account, which she’d had for 17 years, had been hacked, locking her out.

The mum-of-two said: “My trust went into that Facebook, obviously as a means to store my life memories.

“One day it was going to be my grandchildren’s memories for when I’m not here, so I’m absolutely devastated.

“Every family holiday, even the birth of my grandchildren which I would never share with anybody, I filmed it, stored it to my private Facebook album and deleted it off my phone.

“I will never get that moment back.”

Despite contacting Instagram support four times and Facebook customer support three times, she has never received a response.

The grandmother estimates she has lost thousands of pictures and videos, but added: “There is nobody to speak to, there’s no follow-up, there’s no help!”

Although her Netflix account was also hacked, she says the company has a support line and were able to restore her account and increase her security.

Speaking of Facebook and Instagram, she said: “You’ve put trust in this massive multi-million-pound company and then to not get any support afterwards and to lose all my memories is just so sad.”

In addition, both Sharon and Luisa have faced trouble setting up new social media accounts to stay connected with their friends and family online since the hacking.

This is because their personal emails and name are still linked to the hijacked accounts.

However, both say that their main intention is to retrieve their photos, with Luisa adding: “Even if I never got that Facebook back again, as long as I get the photos and data that comes with it – that would be something.

“I think it’s disgusting and absolutely awful that we have nobody to go to.

“You can’t put a price on a photo or a video – they are priceless, special moments.”

Sharon added: “Because I have terminal cancer it was something my daughter could have when I’m gone to still look at the photos and now, they’re just gone.

“I would love my photos back – that’s all I want.”

What precautions can I take if I think my social media account(s) have been hacked?

Being hacked is very stressful but there are a number of steps you can take to minimise the damage.

Stop! Think Fraud, a major campaign launched by the government earlier this year, has published the following guidance to help people who have been targeted, which also extends to email and bank accounts.

> For each account that’s been hacked, go to the website of the account provider and look for the help or support pages. These will explain the account recovery process for that account

> Check and switch off any unwanted “forwarding” rules in your email account settings

> Once you’ve confirmed there aren’t any unwanted forwarding rules, you need to change the password for every account that’s been hacked

> Log out of your accounts on all apps and devices

> Set up 2-step verification on important accounts like email and banking, even if these are already protected using a strong password

> Update your devices’ apps and services

> Get in touch with your account contacts, friends or followers independently

> Keep an eye on your bank statements

For the full set of guidance, click here

Meta Platforms, which own Instagram and Facebook, have been contacted for a comment.