Having your Facebook account hacked can be a stressful and frustrating experience. You lose access to your profile, photos, messages, and more. On top of that, you have to go through the process of trying to regain access to your account by contacting Facebook support. But how long does this process actually take? In this article, we’ll look at the typical timeframe for getting a response from Facebook when your account has been compromised.
How Facebook Handles Hacked Account Requests
When your Facebook account gets hacked, the first step is to fill out their Hacked Accounts form to report it. This form goes to Facebook’s hacked account support team.
According to Facebook, their security team reviews hacked account requests 24/7. However, they don’t provide a specific timeframe for responding to each request. They simply say they will “get back to you as soon as we can.”
Anecdotal reports from users who have gone through the hacked account process suggest it can take anywhere from 1 day to 1 week+ to hear back from Facebook after submitting the form. The exact timeframe likely depends on:
– The current volume of requests. If a lot of accounts are being hacked when you submit your request, it may take longer to get a response.
– The amount of information you provide. If you can give detailed answers to the questions in the form, it may help expedite the process.
– Whether your case requires further manual review. More complex cases of hacking may require more time for Facebook’s security team to investigate.
So in summary, while Facebook aims to respond to hacked account requests as quickly as possible, realistically expect it to take at least 1-3 days and potentially up to a week or longer to hear back.
What to Do While Waiting for a Response
Waiting to get your hacked Facebook account back can be stressful. Here are some things you can do in the meantime while you wait for a response from Facebook:
– Contact friends and family to let them know your account was hacked. Ask them to ignore any strange messages sent from your account.
– If you have pages you administer on Facebook, let those communities know your personal profile has been compromised.
– Watch out for any secondary scams from the hackers, like fake emails pretending to be from Facebook.
– Check other online accounts linked to the email used for your Facebook account and boost their security.
– Prepare information Facebook may need to verify your identity like government IDs, prior passwords, locations where you logged in, etc.
– Be patient and avoid submitting multiple tickets, which can slow down the process.
How to Speed Up Facebook’s Response Time
While there’s no foolproof way to get Facebook to respond faster about your hacked account, here are some tips that may help expedite the process where possible:
– Provide as much helpful information as you can when filling out Facebook’s Hacked Accounts form:
– The email address or phone number on your Facebook account
– Old passwords you’ve used for the account
– Locations you’ve logged in from before
– Friends names and any old messages that could help identify you
– Use accurate information when filling out the form. Don’t guess or make up details.
– Be sure your explanation is clear and detailed about how the account was compromised.
– If possible, include screenshots as attachments showing any suspicious activity.
– Double check that you entered your contact email correctly so Facebook can reach you.
– Avoid submitting duplicate hacked account forms as this can slow things down.
– Consider paying for ads on Facebook to get a live chat support agent who may help escalate.
– Submit the form during business hours Pacific Time if possible. Less requests usually come in overnight.
Again, there is no surefire way to speed up Facebook’s process. But providing accurate, thorough information can help so they can verify your identity faster and restore your access more quickly.
How Facebook Handles the Account Recovery Process
Once Facebook responds about your hacked account, how does the process work to actually recover your access?
In general, here are the steps Facebook will take:
1. Confirm your identity – Facebook will ask you to provide details only the real account holder would know in order to confirm you are who you say you are. This may include government IDs, former passwords, locations, etc.
2. Investigate account activity – Facebook will review recent account activity for red flags. Things like changed contact info, new logins from suspicious locations, messages sent to strangers, etc.
3. Assess the severity – They determine how compromised the account is based on what the hackers have access to and what they could do. More serious cases get higher priority.
4. Take action to secure the account – This may involve resetting the password, removing any unusual login locations, boosting security settings, and more.
5. Restore rightful account access – Once Facebook has secured the account, they can begin the process of restoring full access to you, the legitimate account holder.
6. Follow up – Facebook may follow up with you to ensure everything was restored properly and see if you have any other concerns about the security of your account.
The exact process can vary case-by-case. But in general, Facebook will aim to validate your identity, investigate what happened, secure your account, and get your access restored as quickly as possible. The timeframe often depends on steps 1 and 2 listed above.
Tips for What to Do Once Your Account Access is Restored
Once Facebook finally restores your access after a hacking incident, there are some important things you should do:
– Log in and audit your security settings – Check which devices are linked, what login approvals are enabled, and tweak any settings related to logging in or account recovery.
– Update your password and enable two-factor authentication if you haven’t yet. Use a strong, unique password that hasn’t been used on any other accounts.
– Review all recent posts and messages – Delete anything inappropriate that may have been shared by hackers posing as you. Let friends know of anything odd they may have received.
– Check which apps and websites are connected to your Facebook account via Facebook Login and remove any that look suspicious or unnecessary.
– Consider turning on login approvals, if not already enabled. This adds an extra step to verify your identity whenever logging in from a new device.
– Be on the lookout for any subsequent phishing emails, messages, or texts related to your Facebook account. Hackers may still try to access your account again. Avoid clicking links or sharing any personal information.
– Report the hacking incident in more detail via Facebook’s Help Center now that you have account access back. This helps them improve security.
Taking these steps helps secure your account and minimizes the chances of getting hacked again in the future.
Protecting Your Account from Getting Hacked Again
Once your account has been compromised, it’s understandable to be worried about it happening again. Here are proactive steps you can take to better protect your Facebook account from future hacks:
– Use a password manager to generate and store strong, unique passwords for all your accounts, especially high-value ones like Facebook.
– Enable two-factor authentication on your Facebook account and any associated email accounts. This adds a second layer of verification when logging in.
– Remove any unknown linked devices from your Facebook account that you don’t recognize. Only keep devices you know and trust.
– Avoid clicking suspicious links in emails, messages or websites. This is often how hackers gain access to accounts.
– Don’t use your Facebook login credentials on other sites for convenience. Create separate logins whenever possible.
– Review all the apps connected to your Facebook account and remove any unused, outdated or sketchy ones. They could be vulnerabilities.
– Use Facebook’s Security Checkup tool to audit and boost your account’s security settings based on Facebook’s recommendations.
– Never share or enter your Facebook password anywhere besides directly logging into Facebook.com or their official apps.
– Keep the contact info associated with your Facebook account up-to-date, including your recovery email and phone number.
– Set up Login Approvals which adds an extra step to verify your login attempts via codes or push notifications on your phone.
Taking a multi-layered approach to security makes your Facebook account much less vulnerable to any potential future hacking attacks.
What to Do if Facebook is Unresponsive
In most cases, Facebook will eventually respond and help recover your hacked account if you submit the hacked account form. However, some users report Facebook being unresponsive or even unhelpful at times.
If you have waited several days or even weeks and heard nothing back from Facebook after reporting your account was hacked, here are some things you can try:
– Double check that you submitted the form correctly with proper contact info and details. Error messages may go unnoticed.
– If possible, try having a friend or family member with a Facebook account submit the form on your behalf from their account.
– Look for any notifications from Facebook in your email’s spam folder that you may have missed.
– Submit the hacked account form again if it’s been over a week with no response. Politely reference your prior unanswered submission.
– Search for the email address or Facebook name of the Facebook security employee who responds to hacked account requests and email them directly if possible.
– Pay for a Facebook ad and use it to access live chat support who may be able to further escalate your request.
– Contact Facebook on other platforms like Twitter or their official Facebook page and ask for help.
– Submit a complaint about Facebook not responding via the Better Business Bureau or your state’s Attorney General office.
– As a last resort, delete your inaccessible account for now via Facebook’s account deletion form and start over with a new account. Rebuilding may be easier.
Being persistent, following up through different channels and routes, and clearly demonstrating you are the legitimate account owner may eventually get Facebook to prioritize and respond about your hacked account.
Should You Just Create a New Facebook Account?
If dealing with Facebook’s hacked account recovery process seems too daunting, is it better to just delete your old account entirely and create a brand new one?
Here are some pros and cons to consider when deciding if starting fresh with a new Facebook account is right for you:
**Potential Pros**
– Quickly resolve the account access issue and move on
– Remove any embarrassing or inappropriate content shared by hackers
– Start with much higher security from day one
– Separate yourself from potentially compromised contacts
**Potential Cons**
– Lose access to your photo and message history
– Have to rebuild your network of friends/followers from scratch
– Give up an account with long-standing history, memories, etc.
– Hackers could still access aspects of the old account
– Any Facebook groups or pages you managed will need new admins
In general, only creating a brand new account makes the most sense if your hacked account was not very active, has few connections, and minimal content/history you care about losing.
If the account is important and active, it’s better to invest the time working with Facebook to recover it properly. But weigh the pros and cons based on your specific situation.
Conclusion
Having your Facebook account compromised can be a nuisance, but being prepared with the right information and handling the situation patiently and persistently can help resolve it as quickly as possible. Keep the key takeaways in mind:
– It may take Facebook 1-7+ days to initially respond to hacked account requests.
– Provide detailed, accurate information when reporting the hack.
– Take steps to lock down your account once access is restored.
– Persist trying different contact methods if Facebook is unresponsive.
– Weigh the pros and cons before creating an entirely new account.
With billions of users, it’s impossible for Facebook to instantly respond to every hacked account report. But by following tips like enabling two-factor authentication, using strong passwords, and being vigilant against suspicious links, you can avoid becoming the victim of hacking in the first place. Stay safe out there!