Identify If Your Facebook Account Is Hacked (2022)
If you think that someone is trying to snoop on your Facebook account while staying low, you can try the following ways to identify if your account is hacked or not.
Check Facebook Warning Notifications and Mails
If Facebook finds any suspicious activity or login to your account, you will receive a notification urging you to secure it. It’s important to not overlook this notification. Follow the steps below to check for unusual account activity:
Suspicious Activity
The person who has hacked your Facebook account is probably using it for some malicious purpose, like spamming your friends or posting ads everywhere. If you find any activity that you didn’t perform, there is a good chance your account is hacked. Fortunately, you can check all your Facebook activities from the Activity Log page.
To access this page on your desktop, click the down arrow at the top-right corner and navigate to Settings & privacy -> Activity log.
This will open up a page where you will see all your recent activities. If you find any activity that you don’t remember doing, chances are, someone else has access to your Facebook account. To be sure, you can check the active sessions of your account using the instructions in the next section.
Login Sessions
Facebook keeps a complete log of all your account sessions across all devices you have logged into. You can check out these sessions to see if your account is logged in from a device you don’t recognize or a place you did not visit. Follow these steps to see your login sessions:
To access your past login sessions, click on the down arrow and move to Settings & privacy -> Activity log.
Then, switch to “Active sessions” under “Logged actions and other activity” from the left sidebar to view all your active Facebook sessions.
Here, you should see your current session and all your previous sessions from different devices. You can see the IP address of the device, operating system, and browser here. Furthermore, you will see the details on when the session started and when it was last updated. Then, make sure to check if there’s any session that you don’t identify. If you find any, click on the vertical three dots icon next to it to log out of the session.
Clicking the three-dots icon will show you a “Log out” button. After signing out of the suspicious session, follow the instructions below to change your password and secure your account.
Recover Account and Change the Password
Once your account is compromised, the hacker will either keep track of your activity silently or change the account credentials to lock you out of your account. Here’s what you need to do in any scenario:
Change Password and Gain Back Access to Your Account
In case the hacker has changed your Facebook password and you are locked out, you can easily recover and reset the password using your email address connected to your account. Follow the steps below:
To get started, visit the Facebook login page (visit) and click on the “Forgotten password?” button.
On the next page, you need to help Facebook find your account. To do so, you can enter your email or phone number. Enter either of these details and click “Search” to identify your Facebook account.
Once you have found your account, Facebook will show multiple options to reset your password and gain back access. Here, you can either get a reset code on your email address or your phone number to change the password. Use any of these options to easily reset your password and access your account again. If you no longer have access to your linked email or phone number, click “No longer have access to these?“.
Facebook will recommend you try signing in to your account again with your password. If that doesn’t work, click the “I cannot access my email account” button.
Facebook will now show you a prompt saying it can’t confirm your account. However, there’s still hope to recover your account. Visit the Facebook login identity portal from a phone or browser you have previously used to sign in to Facebook.
Facebook will then ask you to enter any email address that you have access to, so it can contact you through it to resolve the issue. Enter your email address and click on “Continue”.
On the next page, you will need to provide a government-issued photo ID with your name, photo, and date of birth clearly visible (must match your Facebook information). You can upload your passport, driving license, national ID card, or other similar documents that could prove your identity. To upload the document, take a picture of it or scan it and upload it using the “Upload ID” button. Once uploaded, Facebook will verify and help you recover your account using the new email address.
Go Through the Security Check
Now that you have recovered your hacked account and have access to it, you need to ensure that your account doesn’t get hacked again. There are many ways to secure your Facebook account, but I recommend using Facebook’s compromised account feature, which should make you go through all your security options again. Don’t worry, it’s an automatic process and doesn’t involve you personally talking to Facebook support.
First, go to Facebook’s “Report Compromised Account” page and click on the “My Account Is Compromised” button.
If you are not logged in to your Facebook account, enter your email address and click “Search” to locate it.
You should now enter your Facebook password and click “Continue” to sign in to your account.
Choose the “I can’t see the right option in this list” radio button and click “Continue” to secure your account.
Facebook will now display its account security tool. Click “Get Started” to proceed further.
After running a quick analysis, Facebook will urge you to change your password, review your email address, and check the applications you have recently linked to your account. Click “Continue” to review your account settings.
You should now set a new password for your account. Make sure you choose a strong password that involves a mix of alphabets, numbers, and special characters. You can use a password manager to help remember it. Click “Continue” to confirm the new password.
Review the email addresses linked to your Facebook account and delete the ones you don’t recognize.
You will now see the apps you’ve linked to your Facebook account. You can select the ones you no longer use and click “Delete” to unlink them.
The above process should be enough to recover your Facebook account after getting hacked while ensuring the hacker doesn’t strike again. However, Facebook security isn’t limited to just this, so keep on reading to further secure your account.
Secure Your Facebook Account
We have listed some helpful tips you can follow to tighten up Facebook account security. You don’t necessarily have to apply these security measures, but if you are concerned about your account’s security and don’t want to take any risks, follow these tips:
1. Add a Phone Number
Adding a phone number is one of the best and easiest ways to secure your account. It will let you recover your account even if your email is hacked and also let you use Facebook’s 2-step verification. To add a phone number, visit Facebook’s Personal Information page and click “Your contact information”.
From the next page, click “Add a mobile phone” to add and confirm your phone number.
2. Turn on Two-Factor Authentication
After adding your phone number, do not forget to set up two-factor authentication (2FA) on Facebook. With two-factor authentication, Facebook will ask for a verification code in addition to the password when you sign in to your account. You could use SMS or a dedicated authentication app as the 2FA method, but I would suggest the latter. To set up two-factor authentication, visit “Settings & privacy -> Security and login -> Two-factor authentication“. You can also check our linked guide on enabling two-factor authentication on Facebook for detailed instructions.
3. Set up Login Alerts
You can choose to get login alerts when Facebook detects that you are logging in from a device or browser you don’t typically use. To set up login alerts, visit “Settings & privacy -> Security and login ->Get alerts about unrecognised logins” and click the “Edit” button.
You can choose to get login alerts via app notifications and emails. Choose the ones you’re comfortable with and hit the “Save changes” button to save the changes.
Few Ways Hackers Can Hack Your Facebook Account
Here are a few ways hackers and malicious actors can hack your Facebook account, so make sure you take the right measures to safeguard your online identity. And these measures are:
Phishing Sites: Hackers can create a fake Facebook login page, and when you enter your details there, they will be sent to the hacker instead of Facebook. Phishing attempts are usually made through emails and other modes of communication. If an untrusted person gives you a link to access Facebook through it, don’t do it. Your browser may also give a warning to not enter.Keyloggers: Keyloggers are software that can log the keystrokes you make on your keyboard, so they steal your username, password, and other sensitive info when you type it. Usually, they are installed with shady programs, but hackers can remotely install it as well if they get access to your PC. Thus, use a good antivirus program to identify and stop keyloggers and try to use password managers like Lastpass to automatically enter passwords instead of typing them with your keyboard.Never Give up your Password Yourself: Many scams may ask for your Facebook login details in order to give you gifts, game coins, and other incentives. Never give up your information even if a so-called Facebook employee asks for it. You could lose your Facebook account for good if hacked this way, with no mode to recover it.
Easily Recover Your Hacked Facebook Account
If you closely followed the aforementioned steps, you should be back using your Facebook account by now. As long as the account is truly yours, recovering it is not impossible. However, things can get a little tough depending on how much information about your account you have in your hand. If you are still locked out of your account and can’t seem to get access even with the above instructions, do not forget to check our separate guide on how to recover locked Facebook account. If you still have any doubts, feel free to comment down below, and someone from our team will help you out.
