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Hopefully, the day will never come when your Facebook account is taken over. I feel bad for you, for the world of hurt that you will experience in time and money, and for the fact that you will be able to return your account to your rightful control.
Let me help you through the recovery process. I will give you some security pointers that you can follow to prevent this terrible moment from happening.
There are three ways you can lose control of your account.
There are three possible scenarios.
There is a scenario 1. You allow a family member or friend to access your Facebook account. They befriend random people and consume content. A friend of mine had a grandchild stay at her home for a week. The girl left a mess on my friend's account. She didn't post anything to my account, but I had odd friend requests that I had to clean up. I decided to stop using my account. This is more of a nuisance than a hack.
You can check out where else your account is already logging in by using Facebook's security page.
:noupscale is a file on thechorusasset.com
This list should remind you of all of the devices that you have used on Facebook. I removed the older Windows laptop from the list after I found a new one. There is an entry for my phone located in Indiana. I haven't been to that state in a long time, so sometimes the geo-location algorithms are a bit weird. If your account is not hacked, it is helpful to check this screen frequently to make sure you haven't enabled a login by mistake.
Click on the three vertical dots on the right to force those machines to log out of your account if you don't recognize any of them. Change your password to something unique. Before you lend your device to someone, you should sign out of Facebook and Messenger.
There is a scenario 2. Someone sets up a new account by using your photo and name. They try to get your friends to join their account.
You can only tell people you are still you and ignore the imposter. This should be a warning when you get a friend request from someone you haven't spoken to in a long time. If you want to know if the request is genuine, send them an email or text.
There is a scenario 3. There is a doomsday scenario. Someone guesses your password and locks you out of your account. This is the most dire situation and fixing it will depend on what else you have linked to your Facebook account and how determined you are to get it back.
Elizabeth is a book author. She worked with two friends who were IT professionals and a lawyer over the course of four months. Recovering her account was difficult because of two complicating factors.
She connected her credit cards to her Facebook account to promote her books. The hacker charged her card with their own ads to try to lure other victims.
She used her pen name and a random birthday date for her account. During the recovery process, Facebook wants you to verify who you are. I became concerned for myself when she told me. I used to use January 1 as my birthday on Facebook. She told me that if someone hacked my account, I would be in trouble.
The hacker took over her account after she got her password reset. She told me that she tried to get someone at Facebook to help her, but she couldn't get anyone on the phone. She said that the company had a special phone hotline for industry insiders, but it was discontinued. She was able to block the credit card charges by calling her bank. I was trying to be ahead of the hacker. My life was put on hold as I tried to deal with the situation. I didn't get any work done for months. I changed my passwords on more than 30 accounts.
You have three options if you find yourself in this situation.
1. It's a good time to leave Facebook. You have someone who is pretending to be you who could use your identity in criminal and uncomfortable situations. They could try to open up credit cards in your name if they wanted to. More on that in a moment.
2. Try to get your account back on your own, using Facebook's own steps. Most people have tried that. There is no easy way to do this. You have to communicate with Facebook support through someone else's account, which seems somewhat contradictory, so hopefully your spouse or friend is willing to lend a hand. If you set up a second account, it could result in both of your accounts being canceled. You have to choose one of several options to recover your account, including finding an unauthorized post, an account that uses your own name and/or photos, and entering the rabbit hole to recover your account.
:noupscale is a file on thechorusasset.com
If you use Facebook as a way to log into other internet services, you will have to remove the links because a hacker can compromise these other accounts. If you have connected your credit card or other financial account, you will have to contact the institutions to get the charges taken off. Try to use Facebook from other devices that you have used before.
3. Hacked.com is a third-party recovery service. The company will be persistent and if they can't help you, they will refund your fee. Normally, a year's digital protection plan is sold separately for 99. I recommend using this path if you have a complex situation like Elizabeth.
Make sure you don't hire a random hacker who will take your money and do nothing else. The founder of Hacked.com spoke to me about the steps that his staffers take in order to get into the site. It is almost impossible to recover your account if you use a different name than what is on your ID.
Proactive security measures.
If you haven't been hacked yet, here are some steps you can take to make sure you don't get hurt if it does happen. Make sure you take care of all of the items as soon as possible by starting by doing at least one of them today.
1. You should set up additional security on your account. I recommend that you use a two-factor authenticator app, because Facebook offers you a lot of confusing choices. You can start at this page.
Noupscale is a file onchorusasset.com.
2FA uses an app on the phone as part of the login process. After you give your password and usernames, Facebook asks you to type in six numbers that are generated by the app. When you log in, you need your phone nearby. If you want extra credit, you should enable the second factor method on your other accounts, including any banks and credit card companies that support it.
Sending the six numbers as a text message to her phone was a less secure method for Elizabeth's second factor. You can read more about why I don't like this.
2. You should check to see if you have any payment methods configured on Facebook. I was surprised to find my PayPal address linked to my Facebook account, and I thought I was being careful about my Facebook security. There are two places to check. If you have set up any credit cards to make direct payments to individuals or causes, there is a page on Facebook called Facebook Pay. You can remove ad payment methods by going to this other link. If you are running ad campaigns on your business, you have to stop them first.
3. Remove websites and apps that are connected. If you have signed on to third-party apps using your Facebook credentials, now is the time to review and remove them. The same is true when removing business integrations. You take a small hit in not being able to automatically log into these other services, but you also protect yourself if your account has been compromised.
If you have a business page on Facebook, you should have at least two people who have admin rights. Go to Page Roles. If your business account is hacked, it will be very difficult to recover it. The contact should have second factor turned on.
4. You can check your account's email contacts using this Facebook page. If your main email address is compromised, Facebook can use your second contact email to send you notifications. Use different passwords for different email accounts.
This seems like a lot of work, and there are a lot of places in the Facebook settings that you will have to pay attention to. Chances are that the links provided above won't work in the future, as Facebook likes to make changes to its settings.
If these activities have not gotten you frustrated, you might want to continue improving your security. I recommend either the Jumbo app for the mobile device or the Avast One app for the PC. Either can help you through the steps to secure your accounts.
Parting words of wisdom.
Think before you click. If you get a message from a social media company saying that your account has been compromised, don't follow any links or call any phone numbers in the message. This could be a lure from a hacker. Go to the site or use its own app.
Be aware of things that are not normal. You should keep an eye out for messages you didn't send, posts you didn't create, or purchases you didn't make. Someone has guessed your password or compromised your account. If you are lucky, the teen might be using one of your computers.
Being hacked is like getting a digital tattoo, as Elizabeth told me.
