Many people use Facebook to count on it practically all their life: photographs, videos, tastes, purchases … But not always the information in the Zuckerberg social network is safe and beyond the continuous leaks and security problems that has Starring, you should know what to do if your Facebook account is stolen or hacked. How should you act to solve it.
If you start to notice suspicious activity on Facebook , it may be because your account has been stolen or hacked. For example, if your name has changed and you have not, if there are written messages that you have not written on Facebook Messenger or if you find publications that you do not remember putting. Of course, if you have not written it and nobody has had access to your mobile phone or your computer, it will be because your Facebook account has been stolen or hacked.
There are several options and methods that you can follow or review to log out of Facebook on another computer or find the location from which it was opened.
Change password
The first thing you will have to do is enter your Facebook account and change the password once you are inside it. As long as your account has been stolen but you still have the same email or associated phone number.
- Go to Facebook
- Click on the upper right corner
- Go to Settings
- Click Security and login
- Click Edit next to Change password
- Enter the current password
- Choose a new password, safe and reliable
- Click on “Save Changes”
Once inside, log out of all devices where the account is open.
If you do not have access because the password has been changed, you can try resetting it as long as you still have access to the email associated with the session or the original phone number. Go to “I forgot my password” and follow the steps to change the security from your mobile or email.
If they have also changed the email or phone during the hacking, you can contact Facebook and they will try to solve the problem or you can use the trusted contacts as we explain in the following paragraphs.
Log out of all devices
If you have left Facebook open on any other device and you think they have been able to access, you can log out remotely on another computer, phone or tablet so that person stops having access to your information. You will be able to see the date, time and location where you are logged in and from what type of device. If you don’t like what you see, you can close them wherever you are.
- Open Facebook
- Go to “Security and login”
- Choose the section “Where are you logged in?”
- Click on “See more”
- Find the session you want to close
- Click on the three vertical points
- Click on “Exit”
- Facebook session will be closed immediately
- Repeat the process with all the devices or locations you want
Remove suspicious applications
If you have access to your account and have doubts about whether there is an application that may be the culprit, keep control of which apps access your session and eliminate those that are not known to you.
- Go to Facebook
- Access the Settings
- Choose Applications
- Go to Application Settings
- Check which apps have access
- Click on the “x” next to the app to remove it
Trusted Contacts
If you cannot access your account because someone has modified the password or user, then use the trusted contacts option to ask for help. Of course, it will be essential that you have assigned your close friends to do so. First, choose your trusted contacts on Facebook so that this option is valid when you need to recover your account from a theft or hack:
- Go to Facebook
- Open settings
- Go to Security and login
- Scroll down
- Click on “Choose between three and five friends to get in touch with …»
- Click on “Edit”
- Click on “Choose friends”
- Follow the instructions on the screen
- Choose your trusted contacts that we will use later
Once you have chosen these contacts, such as your mother or your brother or your partner, we can ask for help to recover our account through an access code.
Use contacts to login
- Access Facebook from any computer
- Click on “ Have you forgotten your account information? “
- Enter your email, phone, username or full name
- Click on “Search”
- Click on “Do you no longer have access?” If you can’t do it
- Add a new address or unregistered phone
- Click on “Continue”
- Click on “Reveal my trusted contacts ”
- Enter the full name of one of your friends or contacts
- Follow the instructions
- Send the link that appears to a friend
- In your link, you will see a login code
- Ask for the login code
- Use it to recover your account
This measure is very useful and practical and nobody can use it to steal your account if you have chosen your trusted contacts. Look for legit people, who you know in real life or who are from your family, for example. Another tip when choosing trusted contacts is to use contacts from different fields such as co-workers, family or friends. And, above all, we reiterate the importance that they are people you know in real life, that they are reliable, close and that they are able to recognize your voice over the phone if you talk to them. This will prevent someone from impersonating you.
Security advice
To prevent this from happening and steal your account or hack it, you can follow a series of very simple tips that have to be safe in the future.
- Protect your Facebook password and do not use it on other sites or pages and never share it with anyone. Also, don’t put passwords that are very easy to guess.
- Do not share your login information to access applications, games or social networks as they can impersonate similar or reliable sites but they are not.
- Log out when using a shared computer.
- Do not accept friend requests from people you don’t know.
- Do not click on suspicious links even if it has been sent to you by a friend or company you know, or by emails or publications that claim to be from Facebook.
- Use the trusted contacts and configure them as soon as possible.
- Regularly check where you are logged in and when.
- Turn on two-step authentication on Facebook.
- Configure unrecognized login alerts .
