What to do when Your Facebook account gets Hacked?
“Quick. Open up a website!”
The chances are a lot of you either opened up Google or Facebook. Why is this so?
It is because Facebook and Google have become such an integral part of our lives that whenever we think of websites, the first thing that pops into our mind is Facebook or Google. We use Google to search information – so much so that it has become a synonym for “internet search”. At the same time, we use Facebook to connect with people on the internet – it has become the face of social networking.
But What if your Facebook account gets hacked?
Well if this happens then you will lose most of your social contacts. But that’s not all. We don’t use Facebook for just remaining in touch with friends and people we know, we use Facebook to stay up to date with the trends, and most importantly, we use it for memes. Some people do in fact use facebook for just memes and a few friends.
Joke aside, losing your Facebook account can harm you. Unless you are someone who is super cautious and doesn’t keep any information on this media or link it with any other sites, then there is a good chance for a lot of your web activity or worse, your data being leaked. Many people link Facebook with a lot of other websites and applications.
Sometimes it can just be a random website that needs an existing account or email or a game. But what if it was linked with a game or a site that needs payment? There you will have inserted your payment details with your credit card number and other additional information. If you have done these and your Facebook account is hacked then your online data will be compromised.
What do you do if your Facebook account is hacked?
If your Facebook account is hacked, then we panic and worry. But that is the exact thing that we are not supposed to do. We have to remain calm and take action. But before you take any actions you have to make sure that you didn’t just type the wrong password or forgot the password.
Also, we have to remember that hacking doesn’t always mean locking you out of your account. It is better for a lot of hackers to use your account to spread malware and gather information from your login activity.
With this being cleared, let’s see what we can actually do in case our Facebook account is hacked.
When we are not locked out from our Facebook account
This is the and less severe of the situations. When your Facebook account is hacked but you can still log in, all you have to do is secure your account. Usually, when this happens, it will take you some time to know as, besides some small changes or some random strings of messages, you won’t see many signs of this happening. But in case you do see these signs, you can do so by following the link here.
There you will have to
- Click the reason why you think your account is compromised
- Check Your email or password has changed.
- Check Your name or birthday has changed.
- Check Friend requests have been sent to people you don’t know.
- Check Messages have been sent that you didn’t write.
- Check Posts have been made that you didn’t create.
- Change your password
- Log in
Once you complete these steps, your Facebook account will be relatively safe. However, if the hacker has malicious intentions or is skilled they can lock you out of your account to do as they please.
When you are locked out of your Facebook account.
This is the more severe of the case. If a hacker has adequate skills and is determined enough, they can easily lock you out of your account. Now what you should do when your Facebook account is hacked in this way depends on the difficulty level of gaining access to your account.
Lower difficulty
Here a hacker just logs in’s to your account and changes your password. One doesn’t need to be a hacker for them to do this. If you log in to someone’s mobile and forget to log out, with some basic intellect they can change your password and lock you out.
In this case, you can:
- Use your email to reset your password
- Use your friends Facebook account to report and log in
Resetting your password
This is the simplest way to regain access. All you have to do is click the “forgot password” button and follow the instructions. The full set of steps are:
- Press forgot password
- Insert your email or phone number
- Check your email or phone number for the code
- Insert the code
OR
- Check your mail and click on the link
- Change your password
Use your Friends account
This is a bit more troublesome but is a great way to recover your account if you have a friend nearby. To recover your hacked account using this way you have to:
- Make your friend log in and go to your profile
- Click on the options button on the upper right near your account
- Click ok “find support or report profile”
- Select “I can’t access my account”
- Select “recover this account”
- Find your account using your email or phone number
- Reset the password using your email
Medium difficulty
If you cannot recover using the previously mentioned methods but can still locate your account, then be prepared to face some troubles. However that being said, since you can still locate your account, the trouble will mostly be related to seeing your verification.
If a hacker uses two-factor authentication to lock your account or other similar means, then you will need to verify that you are the original owner. But that being said, unless your account has extremely important information, this is unlikely to happen. No one wants to hack you and lock you out just to watch your memes.
In this case, you can:
- Click on “need another way to authentication
- Click on the “submit a request to Facebook”
- fill in your account name, mobile carrier name your full name
- Submit your government approved ID
You will have to wait for your request to be processed and it can take anywhere from 48 hours to a week. This is the more direct approach. If this method is too straightforward to you or you don’t want to provide the official documents you can:
- Use a new mail to fill the form
- Send the recovery link to your trusted contacts
Note that this only works if you have added 3-5 trusted contacts to your Facebook account.
Hard Difficulty
If you cannot locate your account using your email or phone numbers, then you are in trouble. Understand that the hacker has not only locked you out of your account but also removed your email authentication and/or phone number authentication as well. In this case, the most common danger is identity theft.
Your Facebook contains virtually every data about your personality including your likes, dislikes, visited places, speech patterns looks, relationships status, employment, and education status, and sometimes credit card information as well. If you cannot find it, then immediately do the following:
- Go to contact information to check the new email or phone number
- If it is available use the name or phone number to check for your account
If it is not available
- Ask your friend to search your account
- Copy your Facebook URL
- Insert it in the search section
OR
- Copy the last section of your Facebook URL
- Paste it in the search section
Once you find your account, then you can recover it using the methods mentioned before.
But while this is being said, not all accounts can be recovered. Sometimes hackers really want something from your account and are unwilling to let you access it back. Either that or their methods are advanced enough to bypass this recovery system. In such cases
DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT IMMEDIATELY
Before we Go,
It is better to make another account and start from scratch rather than giving the hacker a chance to deal damage using your account.
A small note before we go is that most hackers only hack your Facebook for small scams and spreading malware. Normal people don’t have much data and they don’t link up their payment system either. You have to be really unlucky for someone to lock you out without any means of recovery. That being said, it is always better to be safe than sorry.
Hope that this was helpful for you. And as always thank you for reading till the end. If you have any suggestions for us, do let us know them down in the comments below.
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