Facebook and Instagram are the world’s biggest social platforms, and thus, they are usually the number one target for hackers. Although hacking through these websites is not an easy task, hackers focus on users with weak passwords that don’t secure their accounts. If someone hacked your Facebook or Instagram account, here’s everything you can try to get them back.
A few days ago my uncle called me and said that someone from Nigeria with an iPhone 15 Pro Max got access to all of his accounts. They hacked two of his Facebook accounts and then took access to his Instagram account. Now for my uncle, that was a big problem, as he’s the owner of a small business that takes online orders, meaning that people can order food through Facebook Messenger and Instagram, which had worked perfectly for him all of those years.
Once he lost access to his accounts, the hackers changed his email address, passwords, and even the phone number. They then started posting new posts and stories that contained a link from which people could go and purchase Bitcoins, although it was fake. After posting to his profiles and keeping the same name and pictures, they then started sending messages to all of his clients, saying that “he found a way to make a lot of money and they could do the same by visiting the link and purchasing Bitcoins”.
Those aren’t the ideal situations when it comes to businesses, and it surely isn’t for anyone else. So how do you get back your accounts and avoid any future hacks?
Check for email reports by Meta
If someone gets access to your Facebook account, the social media platform will notify you both by giving you a notification and sending you an email.
If for example, they’ve changed your password, email address, or even your phone number, you’ll get an email about those changes, with an option to change them back (if you weren’t the one that did those changes).
Users should first check their emails for any messages from either Facebook or Instagram, click on the options given in those, and ultimately try to change their personal login information back. Any unusual activity in your accounts, login attempts, or messages regarding recent changes should be taken seriously.
But if you’re unable to change them back or get access to your account, there’s another way.
Use Facebook’s automatic system
Now, Facebook and Instagram don’t give their users an easy way of contacting their teams and reporting their hacked accounts. Instead, they have an automatic system that will usually help you get access back into your accounts.
To do so, you’ll have to visit either Facebook.com/hacked, or Instagram.com/hacked, depending on which platform they hacked your account. If they hacked both your Facebook and Instagram accounts, you can then proceed to visit both pages.
Even if hackers change your email address, password, and phone number, Facebook and Instagram remember what was your last information, and they can use this knowledge to your advantage. Follow the steps provided on both pages and restore your account by either getting a code on your email or phone (using SMS) or even by approving the change from another device that you’ve settled up as trusted before. You can also get the code through the WhatsApp app.
In the past, I’ve seen Facebook asking for a picture of your ID or passport to validate that you’re the real person behind the account. In that case, the only way you’ll get declined is if your Facebook account has a different name on it. If it has your real name and last name, you’ll be getting access back to your accounts in no time.
And in case you’ve been wondering, there aren’t any email addresses that I’ve found for contacting their team, apart from the abuse@facebook.com email, from which I never got an answer.
Secure your Facebook and Instagram accounts from being hacked
Once you get access to your accounts, it’s important to make sure they all secured from any future attacks. To do so, it’s important to start by logging out from all sessions and devices that have been connected to your account in the past.
This is the best way to prevent a hacker from quickly getting access back to your accounts, and you can do that on Facebook by going to Settings > Security and Login > Where You’re Logged In and selecting Log Out of All Sessions. If there aren’t any connected devices, you can leave that and continue with the next steps.
Once you’ve logged out from all sessions, you’ll then have to enable the Two-Factor Authentication (also known as ‘2FA’). This is the best way to keep your accounts more secure, as you’ll be getting new notifications to accept any login attempts from any unknown devices. You can do that by going to Settings > Security and Login > Use two-factor authentication.
Conclusion…
Facebook has over 3 billion users registered and using the social media platform every month, and as you can guess, keeping everyone happy is not an easy task. Although sometimes their team comes in contact with their users, asking them to validate their identity before giving them access back to their accounts, this is the best you can do to restore a hacked account.
Have you ever seen your accounts getting hacked? And if so, what did you do to get access back to them, and have you been able to get them back? Let me know in the comments below.
