The Instagram account for the BYU Cougarettes has been hacked and is being held for a ransom of $1,000, the Daily Universe has reported.
The account was hacked on Sept. 30, and renamed “pharabenfarway79k. The description on the new profile reads: “This instagram account is held to be sold back to its owner.”
On Thursday, the Daily Universe reached out to the hacker, who told the publication that specifically hacking the Cougarettes account was random and that it was simply their “job to hack an account and sell it back to its owner.”
The hacker also told the Daily Universe that Brigham Young University has not yet reached out to retrieve the account, although the BYU athletic department has said it has reached out to Instagram’s help center in an effort to reclaim the account, the Daily Universe reported.
The most recent post on the BYU Cougarettes’ Instagram account is from two weeks ago when the dance team was promoting a virtual option for its upcoming sports camp. Starting about a week ago, followers began commenting on the post, notifying Instagram that the account had been hacked.
The Cougarettes picked up their 20th national title earlier this year, winning the Division 1A hip hop national championship, according to the team’s official website.
“It feels fantastic,” BYU Cougarettes co-head coach Stacy Bills said in a story on byucougars.com. “This was our first year coaching, and we were riding on the coat tails of a great legacy. We wanted to make sure we maintained that and hopefully get bigger and better.”