Suspect your Facebook account has been hacked? Learn how to find out for sure and the steps you should follow to fix it.
Whether your Facebook account was hacked or you forgot your password, Meta rarely offers more than a wall of silence. If you suspect your Facebook password has been leaked or your account has been compromised, act quickly!
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Facebook hackers can lock your account and cause trouble for your friends and family. Secure your Facebook account now and get it back before it’s too late. We will show you how.
How to tell if your Facebook account has been hacked or not
You can know your Facebook account has been hacked if you notice one of the following signs:
- You can no longer log in with your username and password.
- A password reset email shows up in your inbox, but you haven’t initiated the reset yet.
These are the most obvious signs that something is wrong, but there are more subtle signs too. If Facebook hackers get into your account, they will leave traces.
Check your login session
Is someone logging in from a location or device you’re unfamiliar with?
Log into your Facebook account and click on your profile picture in the top right to expand the Account menu. From that menu, select Settings & privacy > Settings, open the Account Center from the sidebar, and select Passwords and security. This link works on both desktop and mobile devices.
Under Security Checkup, expand Where you sign in and select your account. You can now review the full list of devices where you most recently logged into your Facebook account and when they were active. You can select each individually or all at once to log them out. Be sure to change your password before removing suspicious logins.
Other signs that your account may have been hacked include:
- Your personal data, including your password, email address, phone number or name has been changed by a third party. In Account Center, go to Personal Details and expand Contact Info options. Here you can see all the email addresses and phone numbers associated with your account.
- Friend requests and private messages were sent from your account without your action. From your account menu (click your profile picture in the top right), select Settings & privacy > Activity Log and go through all the events logged here.
- Your timeline contains posts that you didn’t add or allow. To view your timeline, click your profile picture in the top right and select the profile you’d like to review.
If you are using Facebook to log into other apps, like Spotify or Instagram, we recommend that you change your login information accordingly or tighten Facebook security to secure these third-party accounts.
If you detect any suspicious activity in your login information or have seen one or more of these other signs, you’ll find what you need to do below.
What to do if your Facebook account is hacked
If you confirm that your account has been compromised, here are the steps you should follow.
1a. Change your Facebook password
In case your Facebook hacker didn’t change your password, you’re in luck! Immediately update your passwords before logging out of suspicious sessions; you don’t want to alert the hacker. If it’s too late, go to step 1b.
To change your password from a desktop or mobile device, go to the Account Center, select Passwords and Security, and then select Change Password. Select your account, enter your current password, set a strong new password, and click Change Password.
After successfully changing your password, you will see the message Sign out of another device? screen pops up. Log out of all suspicious sessions and click Log Out.
Only do this if you’re sure you can sign in again.
We recommend you sign out completely, as long as your contact details and security settings are up to date. You don’t want to jeopardize your means of re-logging. If you’re not sure, manually log out of all recent sessions that look suspicious.
If you still think your account has been compromised, proceed to Step 3.
1b. Reset your Facebook password
If a hacker has changed your password and you need to recover your Facebook account, act quickly. Try regaining access, using the Forgot your password? link below Facebook login.
This will allow you to retrieve your password in several ways. First, you will have to Find your account. You can enter the email address you used to sign up with Facebook or any other secondary email addresses you added, as well as your phone number.
If Facebook finds your account, you can choose to Reset your password.
If a hacker changes your email address, you will receive a message to the original address. Look for this message as it contains a special link that allows you to reverse the changes and secure your account.
In my case, Facebook offered to send the recovery code to any email address I added to my account. We strongly recommend that you specify multiple backup email addresses.
Remember that you must keep those accounts equally secure, at least by using strong passwords and, ideally, enabling two-factor authentication on your email account.
Use the Try something else link if you no longer have access to any of the email accounts provided. Facebook will offer to send a code to the phone number associated with your account. If there is no possible way, it will be almost impossible to recover your account.
If you believe that the Facebook hacker with access to your account has abused it, go to step 2.
2. Report the Facebook hack
If your account is not only hacked but also sending ads and spam to your friends, you must report the account as compromised to Facebook using Facebook.com/hacked/.
You can also use this in case you lose access to your account due to a phishing attack. Facebook will help you restore access to your account.
3. Remove suspicious apps
Usually, it wasn’t someone who randomly hacked your account. You may have granted access to a malicious Facebook application that then took over your account.
To remove suspicious apps, go to Settings > Apps & Sites and look through the list.
Click See more to expand the list of active apps and websites, and click Remove for each suspicious app.
We also recommend removing all expired apps and websites.
Additionally, click the View and edit button and change app permissions, including options like app visibility, access to your personal information, and possible actions presently.
4. Damage Control
After doing everything you can to regain control of your hacked Facebook account and prevent further damage, notify your friends and family about what’s happening.
This is a preventative step in case hackers have used your account to reach people. If you are currently unable to access your account, contact your Facebook friends through other social networks, via email, or ask a mutual friend to notify them via Facebook.
Improved Facebook security and privacy settings
Once you regain control, we recommend reviewing your Facebook settings. Go to Meta Account Center and review the following points:
- Under Personal details, review your contact information and add an additional email address or mobile phone number that you have access to. Likewise, delete things you no longer have access to.
- Under Passwords and security, set up additional security measures, including warnings about unrecognized logins and two-factor authentication. You can also launch Facebook’s security check to walk you through all the options.
- In Settings > Privacy, choose the privacy setting you’re comfortable with. We recommend that you only allow your friends to see your future posts and limit the visibility of past posts.
These settings not only secure your Facebook account but can also help you recover it. Note that the most important security feature you can enable on any of your accounts is two-factor authentication. You can use Microsoft Authenticator and Google Authenticator with Facebook.
How do you keep your Facebook account safe?
Being hacked is a painful experience. However, it is also a learning opportunity. After setting a strong password, enabling two-factor authentication, and updating all your information, your account will be protected from being hacked again. Now continue to take these lessons and apply them to your other online accounts.
Categories: Tips & Tricks
Source: c3kienthuyhp.edu.vn
