How to protect your Facebook from hackers
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – Imagine you’re locked out of your Facebook page and lose access to everything; or even worse, your Facebook is hacked your followers get scammed.
In a Consumer First Alert, Tammy Elliott asked experts how to protect from a Facebook hacker.
Local victims of Facebook hacking are searching for answers.
“I’m just frustrated because there’s no way to get a hold of Facebook,” says Pamela May.
Aubree Leitermann says, “It was pretty frustrating because of all the messages we got.”
May says, “I got six notifications so far of people who were scammed out of money and I’m sure there’s many more out there.”
May and Leitermann say they wish they could get to talk to an actual person at Facebook. A recording states that the social media network does not offer phone support at this time.
Consumer First Alert has tried a media email listed for Facebook multiple times. We’ve yet to receive a response for this story.
We took our questions to identity theft and cyber security experts.
“And this runs the gamut: Instagram, Facebook, other online social media accounts. It’s happening on a regular basis and it is a very big problem,” says Eva Velasquez, President and CEO, Identity Theft Resource Center.
She attributes much of it to easy or re-used passwords.
“When we as users re-use the same easy passwords we make it easier for thieves to get into our other accounts,” Velasquez says.
- SEE PART 1 OF OUR CONSUMER ALERTS ON FACEBOOK HACKING: https://www.wbay.com/2022/07/10/consumer-first-alert-hacking-victims-voice-frustrations-look-answers-facebook/
Molly Vollrath is a security analyst at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.
“So they’re able to guess them or password crack them,” Vollrath says.
Tammy Elliott: “How common is this?”
Molly Vollrath: “Facebook hacking is very common. A lot of it stems from phishing.”
“What criminals will do is send out a phishing email pretending to be Facebook saying, ‘Hey validate your account or update your settings and log in here.’ You’ll click a link and see a legitimate looking Facebook page that will ask you to enter your user name and password. So it’s that simple for them to take it from you because…