How to Know If you’ve been Hacked on Facebook and What you Must Do (updated 2020)

Want to know if you’ve been hacked on Facebook? Then this post is definitely for you. If you also want to know how to prevent your Facebook account from getting hacked, you’re in the right spot.

Yes honey ‘you just got hacked on Facebook’. I wish I didn’t have to say this to someone I know because it hurts, but sometimes it takes an experience to learn better. So this post is going to help you identify if your account has ever been hacked on Facebook. It would also highlight very easy steps to protecting your Facebook account from future attacks. Lets’s begin!

This latest Facebook hack isn’t the typical type of hack where the user logs in and starts posting disgusting and inappropriate images on your wall. Or the one where the user tags half of your friends on Facebook on some random photo. It’s much more stealthy. The hacker logs in to your Facebook account and is super quiet while observing your page, gathering as much data as needed.  There is also another Facebook hack referred to as the ‘Account Takeover’ which happens a lot more than the former. Here, the hacker takes over the account and is likely to change the password and every other setting so you can’t access it. He or She gains access to your posts and deletes everything, resets your email and password and pretty much takes over the entire account. This makes it impossible to ever login.

Now you must be asking…

Why Should I care if a Hacker has access to my Facebook account?

 First of all. Facebook, just like any other social media platform is a great way to communicate with friends, family, network, advertise businesses, and a whole lot more. But when a cybercriminal gets a hold of your personal account, it can be a nightmare.

Here are some scenarios of what can happen if a hacker got hold of your Facebook Account.

1. 1. Imagine if someone else gains access to your Facebook account and sends a message to your Dad, asking for money because you lost your debit card, you’re out of cash and happen to be stranded at a very secluded location.

1. 1. Your Boss who follows you on Facebook, sees videos on your page Supporting Child Abuse or Supporting Violence in the Country.

1. 1. Pornographic Images and Videos sent to your friends on Facebook.

1. 1. All Platforms or websites that you signed with ‘Facebook’ can all be accessed.

1. Passwords for Facebook can be tried on Google, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram and a lot of others.

How to Know if you’ve been Hacked on Facebook: A Step by Step Guide 

1. Log on to facebook.com via your mobile phone browser, pc browser, or Facebook App.
2. Click on the More Tab.
3. Select Security and Login

4. You would see a ‘Where You’re Logged in’ category listing all the devices that you are currently logged in or not.

5. Click ‘see more’ to view more devices that you’re logged in to.

If you recognize all devices and the locations showing and can verify that, its where you logged in from. Then, there is no need to panic. You haven’t been hacked. But, if on the contrary you see unknown devices logging in from locations you haven’t been to. Then you’ve been Hacked.

Now I’ve Been Hacked What Do I Do?

1. Reset your Password: The first thing you want to do is to reset and make your password stronger than the first. Include Numbers, Upper and Lower Cases, Local Phrases, Symbols and more.
2. Warn People: Make sure to inform others that you’ve been hacked, so they are prepared. Just in case the hacker makes an attempt to defraud and start asking for personal information.

 3. Begin a Digital Cleansing on your Facebook Page: For this process, you need to get rid of anything toxic that’s been left by the hacker on your Facebook page/account. If you still want to keep using this Facebook account, here’s what you can do. Look out for disturbing posts on the page, photo tags, conversations that wasn’t there, and clean everything up.  If everything else, doesn’t give you the satisfaction that everything is totally fine. Try the next Option.

4. Deactivate or Delete your account: Of course, one way to avoid getting hacked on Facebook is to deactivate your account. Yes, not having a Facebook account can and will make you sleep better at night. No one would be able to sign into your account from other countries or states because there’s no account to sign in to. Disabling your Facebook profile removes your name, photos and posts From Facebook.

How to Disable your Facebook Account

Disabling your Facebook account is quite easy as creating your account. To begin, ‘Facebook‘ on your mobile or web browser.

Desktop version

1. Go to the Settings menu
2. Click Security
3. Choose Deactivate.

Facebook mobile app

1. Select More
2. Go to Account Settings
3. Then Security, and then scroll down to Account.
4. Follow the prompts and you’re done. You may reactivate anytime or delete your account altogether here.

When you delete your account, Facebook deletes your posts. But be aware that information that others have shared about you won’t be deleted.

How to Prevent your Account from Getting Hacked on Facebook

1. Create a strong password
Chances are, you already have your Facebook password. But you should make sure it is unique, meaning that you don’t use it anywhere else.
To change your password, go to Account Settings > General > Password. To learn how to create really strong passwords click here

2. Activate ‘Login Approvals’ 
Login approvals is an extended security feature offered by Facebook. It requires you to enter a security code each time you try to access your Facebook account from an unrecognised device. To activate Login Approvals, go to Account Settings > Security, look for Login Approvals and click on the Edit button.

i. When the option to activate Login Approvals will appear, tick the check box to activate.

ii. When a popup window will appear with descriptions of login approvals, click on the ‘Set Up Now’ button to continue.

iii. If your mobile number is already registered, Facebook will automatically send you a code via SMS. Enter this code in the given box and click Submit Code.

iv. Now you have completed the Login Approvals request, so you can click Next to continue.

Futhermore, Facebook will offer you to setup a Code Generator from your mobile phone. This would help in case you are unable to receive SMS. Click Continue.

3. Disconnect previous active sessions
The good thing about Facebook is that it lets you know about your previous active sessions, where you log in from, and what devices you used to access your Facebook account. Now, to make sure your account is safe, from the Account Settings > Security page, look for ‘Active Sessions‘ and click on Edit.

Click on the link ‘End Activity‘ to kill the sessions on all other devices.

How to Prevent your Account from Getting Hacked on Facebook

4. Don’t ‘Keep Me Logged In’
The moment you want to login to your Facebook account, at the Log In page, there’s a small checkbox that says Keep me logged in. Make sure this box is unchecked. Then, log in as usual. With this on, you will be asked for your email and password every time you launch Facebook.

5. Avoid clicking on links from spam email
Facebook is serious about protecting its users from spam and often enhances its features to make sure you do not become a victim. The types of attacks include requests for via Facebook messages, chat, phishing links that will redirect you to fake websites, or malicious links that could retrieve your personal information or even harm your computer. There are also chances you may receive emails that at first glance look like they’re from Facebook, are actually from a phishing website.

How to Prevent your Account from Getting Hacked on Facebook

6. Signing out after use
Lastly which is the most important of all, and definitely worth repeating, is, never forget to log out from your Facebook account.

There are several other basic ways you can avoid being a victim of a  Facebook Hack:

1. You should Never click on suspicious links, if you must open link in incognito mode.
2. Never give out your username or password to anyone, especially not to websites with suspicious-looking links and layouts.
3. Log in only from www.facebook.com and not from any other link or website.
4. Update your browser to its latest version to ensure your browser’s security is up to date. This will enable it detect attacks and alert you when you are navigating to a suspected phishing site.

Not satisfied with this? check out 5 best steps to protecting your personal data online.

Thanks for taking time out to read. Have you ever been a victim of a Facebook or any other social media hack? What did you do afterwards? What are you doing right now to stop it from happening?

Please Share your views on the comment section below 🙂  

Don’t forget to check out our new post on how to protect your wordpress site from hackers