Reviewed by Md Shariar Shanaz Shuvon, Founder & CEO of AwareXone.
5 minute read
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Short answer
In the UAE, use each platform's official recovery or appeal path first, and report blackmail, fraud or stolen funds to local police for a reference number. Platform decisions stay with Meta, TikTok or WhatsApp. Remote case review can help organise evidence for complex business accounts.
Summary
Account restoration is the platform's decision. UAE police don't restore accounts, but they do investigate cybercrime.
Official reporting channels listed by the UAE government: MoI eCrimes platform, Dubai Police eCrime, Abu Dhabi Police Aman, and the My Safe Society app.
Call 999 for crimes and emergencies anywhere in the UAE.
The UAE's Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 criminalises hacking, so don't hire anyone to "break back."
Never share passwords or OTPs, including UAE Pass or bank codes.
If your social media account is hacked or disabled in the UAE, start with the platform's official recovery page (instagram.com/hacked, facebook.com/hacked, or the TikTok, WhatsApp and YouTube help pages). Only the platform can restore the account. If you've been defrauded, blackmailed, or your account is being used to commit crimes, report it through the UAE's official cybercrime channels: the Ministry of Interior eCrimes platform, Dubai Police's eCrime service, Abu Dhabi Police's Aman service, or 999 in an emergency.
eCrimes platform from the UAE Ministry of Interior, in the MoI UAE app
eCrime website from Dubai Police
Aman service from Abu Dhabi Police
My Safe Society app from the Federal Public Prosecution
You can also report at your nearest police station or call 999 for help (same source).
When to report: if you lost money, someone is blackmailing you (including sextortion), your account is being used to scam contacts, or private data or images were leaked. A report also gives you a reference number that can support identity claims.
"UAE enquiries we review remotely often involve creator or business accounts tied to brand work, where downtime is expensive, and WhatsApp Business numbers used with customers. The recovery route is still the platform's official process; reporting to local police helps when money or blackmail is involved, but it does not replace Meta or TikTok's decision." - Md Shariar Shanaz Shuvon, Founder, AwareXone
The UAE's Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 on Countering Rumours and Cybercrimes defines hacking to include unauthorised access to an information system, and makes it a crime. Penalties are higher where data is damaged, deleted, disclosed or copied (UAE Legislation). Two practical consequences:
The person who hacked you has committed a crime that you can report.
Paying someone to hack your account back is also risky. A "recovery hacker" who breaks into a platform is committing unauthorised access, and many of these offers are scams anyway. See hiring an "ethical hacker" to recover an account.
General information, not legal advice. Talk to a UAE-licensed lawyer about your situation.
Meta says it has no general public customer service phone number for its products, and that numbers claiming to be Meta support are potentially scams (Meta Help Center). Official routes are the Help Center, Meta Verified support (email and chat for subscribers), and Meta Business Support for advertisers. See Meta Verified vs paid recovery help.
Consider it for high-value business or creator accounts, repeated rejected appeals, lost email, phone and 2FA together, or several linked Meta assets. AwareXone is reviews cases remotely worldwide, including the UAE. We work only through official platform processes, never ask for passwords or OTPs, don't promise outcomes, and are available 24 hours, every day, and reply to new cases within five hours. Clients in the UAE are quoted and billed in USD, with the fee confirmed after case review (quoted in USD after review).
Influencer and creator accounts are valuable, which makes them targets for fake "brand collaboration", "copyright" and "verification" messages. Treat any message that asks you to log in through a link, or to share a code, as suspicious, whoever it says it's from. AwareXone's guide to fake copyright violation messages explains the pattern.
AwareXone currently handles cases in English, Bahasa Melayu and Chinese. If you're more comfortable in Arabic, you can write to us in Arabic and we'll reply in English with an Arabic translation of the key points. Translations are a courtesy, and the English version is the one that counts. Platform help centres are available in Arabic.
In the UAE, recover the account through the platform and report the crime through official channels. Keep your credentials private, and don't pay anyone to break back.
Can Dubai Police recover my hacked Instagram account?
Police investigate cybercrime but don't control platform accounts. Recover the account through Instagram's official process, and report the crime through eCrime or the police if there was fraud, blackmail or misuse.
Where do I report cybercrime in Abu Dhabi?
The UAE government portal lists Abu Dhabi Police's Aman service among its official cybercrime reporting channels. You can also go to a police station, or call 999 in an emergency.
Is hacking illegal in the UAE?
Yes. Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 criminalises unauthorised access to information systems.