Your Facebook got hacked. Now what?
Benjamin in Huntsville, Alabama, emailed me with a question I get often enough. I thought, “Ya know, I should write about this in the Current.” Someone hacked his Facebook — taking with it 16 years of treasured memories.
He’s feeling that panic I know too many of you have felt. He can’t access his account and has no idea who is logged in doing who-knows-what. I’m here to help.
🚨 Do your friends and family a favor and share this on your Facebook account. You could help someone more than you know.
You’re not alone
Facebook is a big target for hackers and scammers. Think about this: Facebook has 2.989 billion monthly active users worldwide. In other words, about 37.2% of the global population uses Facebook every month.
Once your Facebook account gets taken over, it quickly becomes a money-making machine exploiting your trusted family and friends. Here are some ways they do this:
- The hacker shares fake viral videos or malicious links designed to steal other people’s account credentials.
- They send messages to your family and friends claiming that you need money because you’re stuck in another country, suddenly diagnosed with an illness or lost your job.
- They post pictures of lost pets or children, asking people to share the post to help find them. When the post gets enough shares, they edit it to direct users to a scammy link.
- They advertise anything from pianos to puppies for sale on your account. People pay and they steal the money.
As if that’s not bad enough, you’re right in feeling violated. Your memories are sitting there for someone else to take advantage of and you’re locked out.
Your first step: Go to Facebook.com/hacked and alert Facebook that your account has been compromised. You’ll need to enter the email address or phone number associated with the account. Be sure to give every bit of info they ask for. The point here is to prove that you are you, the rightful owner of the account.
Next, contact your friends. You’ll have to do this outside of Facebook, of course. Tell them your account was hacked and ask them to do you a huge favor.
You want them to also tell Facebook your account was hacked. They need to go to your profile, click the More or three-dot menu > Find support or report. The whole idea here is the higher the number of reports that Facebook is getting, the better chance you have of getting back in.
⌛ Now it’s a waiting game. In the meantime, open a new Facebook account and lock down all your other social media accounts — strong passwords and two-factor authentication are a must!
Sidebar: Worried someone is in your Facebook account?
If you are able to log in, you can check if anyone else is poking around. Sometimes, you can catch someone here before they kick you out of the account entirely.
- Go to Facebook’s Account Center page.
- Click Password and security > Where you’re logged in.
You’ll see a list of all your accounts, including Facebook, Instagram and Meta. Click each account and you’ll see a list of devices that have been used to log in. If you don’t recognize a device, change your password ASAP!
Return to Facebook’s Account Center page and tap Password and security > Change password. Select Facebook and enter your current password and pick a new one. Hit the Change password button and voila, all done.
Tags: devices, email, Facebook, family, hackers, phone, scammers, security, social media, Target, two-factor authentication, videos
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