Many Facebook users have fallen for a hoax that is claiming that their account has been cloned.
The message doesn’t contain a virus but it is leading to more people spreading the false information. A Facebook official said: ‘We’ve heard that some people are seeing posts or messages about accounts being cloned on Facebook. It takes the form of a “chain mail” type of notice. ‘We haven’t seen an increase in incoming reports of impersonation (cloned accounts).’ Facebook account hacking has been a growing concern especially after it was revealed that a recent hack exposed the personal information of 50m users. If you’re concerned that your account may have been hacked or you want to ensure it is a secure as possible then here it what you need to know.
How to tell if your Facebook has been hacked
If you want to check if your Facebook account has been hacked you’ll firstly want to make sure that you can still login. If this is still possible then you should go to the Security and login tab that can be found under the main settings, which you can access by clicking the arrow in the top right of the page. From here you can see where your account has been accessed from and you can use this to spot if there are any that are out of the ordinary, which could be an unknown device or a location that you don’t recognise. If there is one that looks suspicious then you can select it and choose the ‘not you’ option which will then lead to Facebook helping you to secure your account.
How to protect your account
There are numerous ways to ensure that your Facebook account is as protected as possible from potential being hacked. Firstly it’s important to have a strong password that uses a mix of numbers and special characters, as well as both lower-case and upper-case letters as this makes it harder for hackers to access. It is also worth updating your password fairly frequently, at least once every year if not more. You can also connect your mobile number to your account which could be useful if you somehow lose access to your account. If you want more control over the security of your Facebook account then you can look at your security settings which can be found under the main setting tab on your account. It gives you the option to monitor where you have logged in from, as well as activate two-factor authentication, authorised logins and monitor app passwords. You can also choose 3 to 5 friends that you can contact if you are locked out of your account, which offers an easy way for you to get your access back.