What to Do if Your Facebook Account Gets Hacked – Act Fast Now!

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What to Do if Your Facebook Account Gets Hacked

30 million Facebook accounts were compromised in a data breach in 2018 as confirmed by Meta, the parent company.

Based on a study done by Rexxfield, $3.25 billion in global revenue was generated each year by cybercrimes on various social media platforms.

A statistical study done by Juniper Research on data breaches and their costs suggests that these costs are expected to increase to over $5 trillion globally by 2024. Social media hacking attacks result in approximately 22% of all tactics used by attackers.

Facebook is not just a platform for connecting with friends and family across the world it can also be used to promote business online using Facebook ads and generate good revenue by getting potential customers.

As social media platforms get popular and bigger, the chances of user accounts getting hacked also grow with it.

Since most of our personal information is available on social media profiles it becomes very important for us to keep our profile secure and away from any unauthorized access.

A little over 1.9 billion users are logging in to Facebook every day, Facebook’s gigantic user base creates a massive opportunity for businesses to reach a wide range of users interested in your product or services.

Using Facebook Ads you can generate leads, increase online sales, promote your videos, or even launch a new product.

Signs Your Facebook Account is Hacked

While using Facebook if you notice unusual behavior like the below options, it is possible your account might have been hacked and your personal information been compromised. 

  • Your name, profile image, or about section gets updated without your knowledge.
  • Password updated notification, even if you have not updated.
  • Messages sent to other users you didn’t write.
  • Posts or comments you did not add but appear with your account name.
  • Friends or family members are removed from account, and new unknown people added.
  • Friends getting messages from your account asking for confidential information.

If any of the above has ever happened, you need to check if you can log in to your Facebook account.

If you can then the first step is to go to Settings > Security & Login. You can see the list of devices along with the location and time that are logged in with your credentials, and check if any unauthorized log-ins are available.

If you see any unauthorized entries that mean a hacker has gained access to your account and you should immediately change your password.

Facebook hackers after gaining access to a user’s account majorly reach out to friends commonly contacted by the user and try to get confidential details like personal identification number (PIN) or one-time password (OTP) pretending it’s you.

Facebook hackers might even download your private images or text messages and extort money in return from users.

Remember to contact your friends once your account has been hacked and tell them they should not click on any suspicious links from your account.

How to Get Back or Recover My Facebook Account?

If you have access and can log in to your Facebook account using your existing password, log in and change your password and click on ‘Log out of All Devices’ immediately.

If you are not able to log in then you need to inform Facebook by visiting https://www.facebook.com/hacked/ and answering a few questions based on your inputs Facebook will guide you to regain access to your account.

Once you update your new password check that all apps or websites have permission to view your details by clicking on Settings > Apps and Websites from the homepage.

If you find apps or websites having permissions and you would not require in future revoke their access.

How to Keep Your Facebook Account Safe From Facebook Hackers?

A Facebook account comes with a safe and reliable option of ‘Two–Factor Authentication’ this will require a passcode sent to your mobile phone, verifying it’s you.

To secure your Facebook profile with two–factor authentication you can go to Settings> Security & Login > Two–Factor Authentication.

Facebook Two–Factor Authentication Settings

Sometimes it is possible, your mobile phone is not available in such cases Facebook provides an option to have a Facebook friend pre-selected to receive the authentication code on your behalf.

Review privacy settings, most people do not revisit the privacy settings of their Facebook profile after they set it for the first time.

You need to go to Settings > Privacy and click on Privacy Shortcuts. Once you open privacy shortcuts you would see below options

  • Who can see what you share
  • How to keep your account secure
  • How people can find you on Facebook
  • Your data settings on Facebook
  • Your ad preferences on Facebook

Facebook automatically tags you in your friend’s photos, you can switch on/off video auto-play and face recognition by updating existing privacy settings. You can also confirm automated geotagging (and preferably switch it off as required).

For safety reasons, it is advised to change your social media passwords including your Facebook account every 3-6 months. Passwords should not be easily predictable like date of birth, family member name, or any entity directly related to you.

At Exabytes, we provide many digital services to manage and promote your business online.

Get more potential leads for your business and increase your sales with Facebook Ads, for inquiries click here for contact details.

Stay Safe on Facebook

Review your Facebook account’s privacy settings periodically, while posting content on Facebook or any other social media platform, if not required turn off the location stamp in your phone’s camera.

Often while registering on any third-party application, we use the ‘Login using Facebook’ option and give profile details access to these. Review such accesses periodically and revoke them if not required.

Always prefer to keep two–factor authentication for added safety and avoid accessing social media platforms from systems available to the public or even open public networks.

You can get up to 15X Return on Advertising Spends (ROAS) in less than 3 months with Facebook ads.

Being SEA’s trusted and leading brand, Exabytes have proven 100% client satisfaction, click here to view our winning strategies and product pricing, and worry not we always got your back with 365*24*7 tech support for all your queries.

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