This seems to happen more often than I’d like: someone lets you know that they received a Facebook message from you, usually asking for money. Only, you never sent one (duh). You were hacked! So what do you do next? An alltop9 post has the steps you should follow if you ever find yourself in this awkward position. Thankfully, it’s not as hard as you might think to restore and secure a hacked Facebook account: this is now so common that Facebook has a special process just for reporting your compromised account and regaining access.
For those of you who prefer video to text, you can watch the following one:
Recovering a Hacked Facebook Account
Step 1
If your Facebook account has been hacked, the first thing to do is to access the following link on Facebook and report it. Click “My Account Is Compromised.”
Step 2
On the next page, enter your email address, full name, username/phone number associated with your account, and click on the Search button. Complete the security task by entering the captcha in the box and click “Continue.”
Step 3
If there are more accounts with the same username, it will display all of them. Then, it gives you a choice to select the account to recover. You may find here multiple accounts with the same profile name but your account will show up if you enter your email ID. If you don’t remember your email ID, then choose another entry option.
When your account is displayed, enter the password you once used to log into Facebook before someone hacked your account. Then click Continue.
Step 4
Enter the current password or an old password if you have forgotten your current one.
Step 5
You will see the option to reset your password by email.
Step 6
Enter a new email address for Facebook support. After confirming the new email address or phone number, it will ask you to answer the secret question. If you answer correctly, then the next step is to type the new password. This is the last step where you can change your password to recover the hacked Facebook account.
That’s it! Congratulations, you have now restored and secured your Facebook account.
Many thanks to Mike Guess, Insync Media’s SEO guru, for the tip. Read the full post for the complete details – and may you never need them!
Tweet This
Thanks. This doesn’t work when the hacker adds their email, asked for code to change password to be emailed, then deletes owners email. Then deletes the phone number and admin. No longer my account and can’t verify by email or phone number, and don’t show up as an admin. Facebook sent emails verifying owner was doing this but since it was in the middle of the night, the owner did not reply. Unfortunately, Meta states in the email “If this was you, do nothing. “. Well, that sets up the hacker to continue on.
Thank you for sharing this update!
Same thing happened to me… did you manage to recover that account?
This is exactly what happened to me. Anyone know what to do when your Facebook is taken over.
Thank you for this Nicholas. I’ve shared and will add to my next Writer’s Tips! 🙂
Many thanks for sharing, Debby 🙂
Ah, so happy I’ve never succumbed to the allure (which apparently attracts billions of people) of Facebook. So this helpful information is not needed here. 🙂
It’s not all bad, you know, but I hear you 🙂
Thanks for that.
So far, not needed. probably because I’m not important enough to hack. But several of my friends have been, so sticking my head in the sand and hoping doesn’t bring the reassurance your post does.
I’m much like you. Keeping ’em crossed this never changes!