Publications where your acquaintances talk about hacking are always surprising. Many people think that their person is not very interesting to anyone. However, you can not be 100% sure of this. If you are frightened by such messages from friends, it is worth to understand the reasons and your plan of action in such a situation.
Although it is possible to find Facebook account by phone number, this option is overrated. First, the user can prohibit this method of search in the account settings. Secondly, the numbers of those who know your contact are stored on your device, but there is no problem with this. If you are still worried about protection, read the useful tips in this article.
Account cloning: reality or fiction?
Something that people call “profile cloning” is actually not such a thing. An unknown user creates an account using your data for several purposes:
- Financial gain. In the age of social media, it’s easy to ask another person for help, including financial help. To avoid having to pay back debts, it’s easier to copy someone else’s page and communicate with strangers. Some will not take the request to borrow money seriously, and someone – can send the requested amount.
- Spreading false information. You will agree that we learn about the news from the lives of acquaintances on social networks. Birthday, wedding or divorce – all this is shown on the page. Perhaps your clone is trying to reveal your secrets to the public or ruin your reputation.
- Selling pages. Social media ad campaigns are common. Facebook’s algorithm quickly blocks accounts that engage in suspicious activity. Confirming that the owner is a real person helps reduce the risk of this happening. This requires a typical page with a detailed description.
Whatever the reason for profile cloning, this problem should not be left unattended. If you see your new account, start taking action.
How to protect yourself from cybercriminals
The first thing to do is to write to your regular contacts about the discovery. After that, you can spread the word about the crime associated with your account. Write a post, publish a short video, or contact your loved ones to let them know about your problem.
The next step is to check the security of your current profile. Open the settings, and after that, find the section with performed logins. You can find the addresses and type of devices in the menu, a little less often – the exact location. If there are no suspicious logins in the list, terminate the current sessions on other devices. When the situation becomes clearer, you will easily authorize again.
How to block a fake profile
To make things work, you need the help of others. True friends will provide this simple service if you ask them for a favor. To lock your account, you need to:
- Financial gain. In the age of social media, it’s easy to ask another person for help, including financial help. To avoid having to pay back debts, it’s easier to copy someone else’s page and communicate with strangers. Some will not take the request to borrow money seriously, and someone – can send the requested amount.
- Spreading false information. You will agree that we learn about the news from the lives of acquaintances on social networks. Birthday, wedding or divorce – all this is shown on the page. Perhaps your clone is trying to reveal your secrets to the public or ruin your reputation.
- Selling pages. Social media ad campaigns are common. Facebook’s algorithm quickly blocks accounts that engage in suspicious activity. Confirming that the owner is a real person helps reduce the risk of this happening. This requires a typical page with a detailed description.
Meta company cares about the safety of its users. Once the complaint is processed, the clone will disappear from the platform. To check this, paste the link to that profile in your browser. You will see an error message on the screen.
The help of friends will be necessary to send a few dozen complaints about the account. In this simple way, you will speed up the problem and get rid of the issue. Managers will contact you as a victim of cybercrime and ask you to confirm your identity. Prepare documents to forget about this unpleasant story.