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Someone tried to access my Facebook account this morning

I just got an email from Facebook saying that my account was accessed by an unrecognised device at 5.11am this morning at a location in Watford.

As per their instructions, I changed my password immediately and also set up a couple of registered devices (i.e. my blackberry and laptop) on the security settings so now my account cannot be accessed (allegedly) from anywhere other than those 2 devices without the activation code.

Has this happened to anyone else before?

I checked my profile and nothing seems to have changed, I cannot see any messages sent to people, any friends deleted/added, no privacy settings changed etc,

So is this serious or what? I feel like deactivating now.

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Reply 1
It could have been a phishing email as you can often access FB from different devices without problems (unless it's abroad). After the twitter hack last week I got notification of password reset requests on my FB and email so your thing could still be fallout from that. If you've reset everything you should be fine, but perhaps avoid clicking on links from emails from FB, and ask your FB friends to keep an eye out for odd messages from you.
Original post by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
I just got an email from Facebook saying that my account was accessed by an unrecognised device at 5.11am this morning at a location in Watford.

As per their instructions, I changed my password immediately and also set up a couple of registered devices (i.e. my blackberry and laptop) on the security settings so now my account cannot be accessed (allegedly) from anywhere other than those 2 devices without the activation code.

Has this happened to anyone else before?

I checked my profile and nothing seems to have changed, I cannot see any messages sent to people, any friends deleted/added, no privacy settings changed etc,

So is this serious or what? I feel like deactivating now.


Personally I'd be suspicious and think it could be a phishing email. But I'm not very knowledgeable about this kind of stuff so could be wrong. I'd change your passwords again just in case. But not using the link from the email just in case it was phishing. I didn't know Facebook sent you an email if someone tries to access it from an unauthorised device.. although I could just not be up to date with fb settings. And I'm paranoid about password stuff haha
Hope it's sorted out for you and genuinely was Facebook
Reply 3
This has happened to me before and a few of my friends.
It's so strange, I remember one of mine said it was someone in Liverpool (I live in Essex) and another friend of mine had theirs accessed by someone in Manchester?!
Who are these people?!?!
Don't really understand how it could happen.
But anyway nothing bad happened to my account so i'm sure you're fine, don't worry too much.
And yeah if you set up the security settings with registered devices like you have that also helps. You can also set up a thing so if someone tries to access your facebook from an unregistered device, it texts you with a password that they then need to enter to access your account, so do that also if you haven't already :smile:
Original post by Alejandro

And yeah if you set up the security settings with registered devices like you have that also helps. You can also set up a thing so if someone tries to access your facebook from an unregistered device, it texts you with a password that they then need to enter to access your account, so do that also if you haven't already :smile:


Yes, now even if they have the password, they still cannot access my account unless the security code gets texted to them - which won't happen as they don't have my phone.

I don't think this was phishing. I got a notification on Facebook to say that a new device (blackberry) had accessed my account since the security changes, which was fine as it was me setting it up. So I think that proves it was legit? :s-smilie:

How can you see 'sent messages'? I don't think you can, can you? You have to wait until someone replies, then you can see the chat history?

My Activity Logs shows nothing since Feb 5, so last night all was clear, it seems...
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by Gummibaerchen
Personally I'd be suspicious and think it could be a phishing email. But I'm not very knowledgeable about this kind of stuff so could be wrong. I'd change your passwords again just in case. But not using the link from the email just in case it was phishing. I didn't know Facebook sent you an email if someone tries to access it from an unauthorised device.. although I could just not be up to date with fb settings. And I'm paranoid about password stuff haha
Hope it's sorted out for you and genuinely was Facebook


The email stated that they (Facebook) had temporarily locked my account until I could confirm if I had authorised the log in from Watford or not. Which was true, as I went on Facebook on my laptop to check (without clicking on a mobile link). That cannot be phishing surely. They would not have the power or knowhow to lock my account. The account was only unlocked when I confirmed that it was unauthorised and then changed my settings.
Original post by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
I just got an email from Facebook saying that my account was accessed by an unrecognised device at 5.11am this morning at a location in Watford.

As per their instructions, I changed my password immediately and also set up a couple of registered devices (i.e. my blackberry and laptop) on the security settings so now my account cannot be accessed (allegedly) from anywhere other than those 2 devices without the activation code.

Has this happened to anyone else before?

I checked my profile and nothing seems to have changed, I cannot see any messages sent to people, any friends deleted/added, no privacy settings changed etc,

So is this serious or what? I feel like deactivating now.


Someone attempted to access my Facebook account a few months ago, and succeeded in doing so.
They also managed to hack my Hotmail account, and they changed my passwords on both.
There was a long process I had to go through to retrieve my accounts back and prove who I was, but I managed it.

I now have all accounts set up to other devices such as my phone, so if anyone tries to access my accounts from any other device, I get a text/phone call to confirm whether it's me or not.

Once I'd managed to get my account back, Facebook showed me where it had been accessed from, it was someone in Paris.
It was horrible seeing on screen, on a map, the location of this person who had managed to access my personal details etc. Strangely enough they hadn't changed anything, other than the fact they'd opened a few emails, it was probably some sort of malicious malware attempt.

Although you now feel paranoid and in some sense violated, don't worry too much.
The fact Facebook have told you someone has "attempted" to access your account, means they failed, therefore nothing will have been changed on your account.

All you can do is set your Facebook account to highest possible security, you can have your phone and several other devices set up with it, so if anyone tries to log in you will be informed and can deny them access. Also, thinking of a really "obscure" password isn't the best way to go, passwords work on their length, if you have a long password which is several basic words tagged together, it is stronger than a short password of a word that only you would think of. Most hackers don't "guess" what your password is, but have a system that runs through every possible combination of letters, numbers, etc.

Change your security question as well, security questions aren't really very secure, as silly as it sounds, never use the real answer to the question you pick, but use an answer you will remember.
For example, if you pick "What is your Mothers maiden name?" And it's "Johnson" don't use Johnson, use something entirely different.
If someone has seen your name on Google, checks your friends/relatives or searches Google, they could very easily find your Mothers maiden name, and access your account that way in seconds.

I hope that helps a little? :smile:
Original post by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
The email stated that they (Facebook) had temporarily locked my account until I could confirm if I had authorised the log in from Watford or not. Which was true, as I went on Facebook on my laptop to check (without clicking on a mobile link). That cannot be phishing surely. They would not have the power or knowhow to lock my account. The account was only unlocked when I confirmed that it was unauthorised and then changed my settings.


Ah right I didn't know about that don't think you mentioned it before. In which case I think it asounds legitimate.
Original post by Vikki1805
Someone attempted to access my Facebook account a few months ago, and succeeded in doing so.
They also managed to hack my Hotmail account, and they changed my passwords on both.
There was a long process I had to go through to retrieve my accounts back and prove who I was, but I managed it.

I now have all accounts set up to other devices such as my phone, so if anyone tries to access my accounts from any other device, I get a text/phone call to confirm whether it's me or not.

Once I'd managed to get my account back, Facebook showed me where it had been accessed from, it was someone in Paris.
It was horrible seeing on screen, on a map, the location of this person who had managed to access my personal details etc. Strangely enough they hadn't changed anything, other than the fact they'd opened a few emails, it was probably some sort of malicious malware attempt.

Although you now feel paranoid and in some sense violated, don't worry too much.
The fact Facebook have told you someone has "attempted" to access your account, means they failed, therefore nothing will have been changed on your account.

All you can do is set your Facebook account to highest possible security, you can have your phone and several other devices set up with it, so if anyone tries to log in you will be informed and can deny them access. Also, thinking of a really "obscure" password isn't the best way to go, passwords work on their length, if you have a long password which is several basic words tagged together, it is stronger than a short password of a word that only you would think of. Most hackers don't "guess" what your password is, but have a system that runs through every possible combination of letters, numbers, etc.

Change your security question as well, security questions aren't really very secure, as silly as it sounds, never use the real answer to the question you pick, but use an answer you will remember.
For example, if you pick "What is your Mothers maiden name?" And it's "Johnson" don't use Johnson, use something entirely different.
If someone has seen your name on Google, checks your friends/relatives or searches Google, they could very easily find your Mothers maiden name, and access your account that way in seconds.

I hope that helps a little? :smile:

#peak lol
Original post by hasan4life
#peak lol


My suspicions are...
TehFrance
:pierre:
This has happened to me before, but difference is I live in England and was informed that someone was trying to access my account in Argentina?!
Original post by Vikki1805
My suspicions are...

Why would I try and login to your Facebook? you know where I am... now come back to bed! :sexface:
Original post by tehFrance
Why would I try and login to your Facebook? you know where I am... now come back to bed! :sexface:


You have a girlfriend :plz2:
Original post by Vikki1805
You have a girlfriend :plz2:

She asked for you Viks, she was quite taken by you and she wanted a threesome so you know #YOLO :awesome: :lol:
Original post by tehFrance
She asked for you Viks, she was quite taken by you and she wanted a threesome so you know #YOLO :awesome: :lol:


is she fit?
Gutted pal it's a cruel world we live in...
Original post by Vikki1805
is she fit?

I wouldn't shack up with uglies now would I? :tongue:
Original post by tehFrance
I wouldn't shack up with uglies now would I? :tongue:


We're taking the thread off topic.

Either way, PM me.
I may be interested in destroying your girlfriends sugar walls. :pierre:
It was me :ninja:
Original post by StartSomething
It was me :ninja:


You biatch!

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