How to Recover a Hacked Facebook Account: A Step-by-Step Guide

Highlights

• Here's a step-by-step guide to recover your hacked Facebook account
• Acting quickly can help you regain control of your account
• Facebook recommends trying the self-service recovery options first

Having your Facebook account hacked can be a stressful experience. Hacking a Facebook account means giving control of your contacts, personal data, photos and other details to an unknown person or group who could use it for criminal purposes. If your Facebook account was hacked, acting quickly will help you limit the damage. Changes made to profile pictures, posts, comments, messages and contact details are considered common signs that your account has been hacked. Meta currently offers many methods to safeguard Facebook accounts, but if you still think your account has been hacked, there are many ways to secure it.

Common signs of a hacked Facebook account include unauthorised posts and comments, and unauthorised account changes, such as changes to the profile picture, password, or contact details. For some users, two-factor authentication stops working, and they receive alerts for unknown login attempts. You might also face trouble logging in to your account. You might also notice logins from unfamiliar locations and the removal or addition of an email address or mobile phone number in your account without permission.

Here's a guide to recover your Facebook account.

How to Recover a Hacked Facebook Account

Users can follow the steps if they think their Facebook account has been hacked.

1. Visit Facebook's hacked account recovery page: facebook.com/hacked.
2. You can use a phone or computer, or another device that you have previously used to log in to Facebook.
3. Enter a different mobile phone number or email address which you might have forgotten is associated with your account. If you are using a mobile phone number, try entering it with the country code.
4. Contact your email provider to see if they can help you recover access to your email account.

If this method worked for you, change your password by:

• Log in to your Facebook account
• Click on your profile picture>Settings and privacy
• Open Accounts Centre 
• Select Password and security
• Change Password

If your Facebook account is still not accessible, Facebook provide additional methods to find and recover a hacked account.

Access a device that you've used to log in to Facebook before. This might be your own phone or computer, or it could be an old phone or a family member's laptop.

1. Open Facebook's account identification page
2. Type facebook.com/login/identify
3. Enter an email address or a mobile phone number that you think may be associated with your Facebook account. If that doesn't work, try entering your account name or username.

What to Do After Finding Your Facebook Account

Once you have located your account, follow these account recovery options

• Select "No longer have access to these?".
• Users who don't see this option have to contact the Facebook Grievance Officer
• Follow the prompts. You may be asked to provide new contact information. The contact information you provide must not have been used for your Facebook account before. Follow the prompts to confirm that the account you're trying to recover is yours.
• Once you have successfully completed all the security checks, follow the instructions to reset your password.
• Choose a password that is easy for you to remember but difficult for someone else to guess.

Contact Facebook's Grievance Officer

If the account recovery options above don't work, you can contact Facebook's Grievance Officer. Facebook advises trying self-service recovery options first. Facebook has listed the email address (fbgoindia@support.facebook.com) and postal address (Meta Platforms, Unit 28 and 29, The Executive Centre, Level 18, DLF Cyber City, Building No. 5, Tower A, Phase III, Gurgaon 122002, India) as dedicated to the grievance redressal mechanism process.

FAQs

How do I know if my Facebook account was hacked?

You may notice unauthorised posts, unauthorised account changes or login alerts.

How to recover a hacked Facebook account?

You can visit facebook.com/hacked and follow the on-screen instructions to recover your account.

What needs to be done after recovering my Facebook account?

Reset your password and check your account for any unfamiliar activity or devices.