WhatsApp accounts are almost never "hacked" in a technical sense. Someone gets hold of the six-digit registration code WhatsApp sent to your number, usually by asking you for it while pretending to be a friend, a WhatsApp employee, or a competition organiser. With that code they set up your WhatsApp on their phone, and yours is signed out.
Get it back
- Open WhatsApp on your phone. It will say your number is no longer registered.
- Register again with your own phone number and enter the new code WhatsApp sends you by SMS.
- This signs the other person out, because WhatsApp only works on one phone number at a time.
If WhatsApp asks for a two-step verification PIN you never set, the thief has added one. Tap Forgot PIN. If you have an email on the account you can reset it straight away; otherwise WhatsApp makes you wait 7 days, after which you can register without it. Keep your phone and SIM with you in the meantime and do not share any new code.
If you keep getting "too many attempts", wait for the timer and try again. Do not keep requesting codes.
While you are locked out
- Message or call your contacts from another number, or post a status from someone else's phone: "My WhatsApp was stolen. Do not send money or codes to anyone asking from my number." The thief's next step is to message your contacts for money or for their codes.
- Email support@whatsapp.com with the subject "Lost/Stolen: Deactivate my account" and your number in international format (for Ghana, +233 followed by your number without the first 0). WhatsApp can deactivate it.
What the thief could see
They do not get your old chats; those stay on your phone or in your backup. They see new messages and groups from the moment they took over. They can see your profile and your group memberships, and they can message people as you.
Stop it happening again
- Go to Settings, Account, Two-step verification and turn it on. Choose a 6-digit PIN that is not your MoMo PIN, and add an email address so you can reset it.
- Also add passkeys or email address under Account if WhatsApp offers it on your phone.
- Never share a code sent to you by SMS, whoever asks and whatever reason they give. Nobody ever needs your WhatsApp code except you.
- Check Settings, Linked devices now and then. Log out of anything you do not recognise; a linked computer can read your messages.
- Put a PIN on your SIM card, so your number cannot be used in someone else's phone.
If a friend's WhatsApp asks you for money or "the code I just sent you by mistake", call them. It is very likely not them.