There are 18.4 million Canadians using the social media app Instagram, representing almost half of Canada's population.

While the app is a great tool for individuals and small businesses to share photos and videos and connect with followers, it is increasingly targeted by hackers.

Siva Swaminathan from Toronto, a chef who uses Instagram for her small business offering healthy recipes, said, "Hackers accessed my account and changed my email, changed my password so I couldn't get back in."

Swaminathan said she had been using the platform for the past seven years and had 2,500 followers, but recently her account was hacked and locked out.

The scammers told Swaminathan that if she wanted to recover her account, she had to pay them money. Swaminathan said once they did that, they sent me a note on WhatsApp saying, "We have your account, we want money to return it."

Ariana Hatzis from Burlington uses her Instagram account for personal reasons and was recently hacked, losing precious family photos and videos.

Hatzis said, "We rely heavily on social media and when your account is hacked, there isn’t much you can do about it."

Hatzis said the scammers sent messages to her contacts like relatives and friends to promote cryptocurrencies.

Hatzis said, "I started receiving messages from all my friends with screenshots saying your account was hacked and it definitely was hacked."

Following these hacks and user complaints, Instagram said it is aware that hackers are mostly gaining access to accounts.

The acting CEO of the Leadership Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University said the best way to protect yourself is to use strong, unique passwords and never respond to messages that appear to be sent from Instagram.

CTV News reached out to Instagram, and a spokesperson said, "We have advanced measures to stop bad actors in their tracks before they can access accounts, as well as measures to help people recover their accounts.

We know we can do more, and we are working hard in both areas to stop bad actors before they cause harm, and to keep our community safe."

With help from Instagram, Hatzis was able to recover her account, but Swaminathan said she had to start over by creating a new account from scratch.

Since Instagram is free to use, it is difficult to reach and get help when needed.

And if your account is hacked, you must contact the platform and warn your friends and family that your account has been compromised.