Gail Eddy, Nederland. Please take a few minutes today to change the password and set up two-factor-authorization on each of your Social Media accounts. 

Let me tell you why

I get emails, texts, and phone calls every single day from people who have lost control of their Facebook or Instagram account. Here are just a few of the actual comments from our blog page:

* Hello I think I’ve been Facebook hacked and can’t get any help from face book.

* My Facebook account has been hacked and the email and password have been changed. How do I fix this?

* I no longer have the phone number and email that is link to my Facebook account and I’m using a new device as my old device no longer in my hand how can I recover my FB account. My number is {deleted} or {deleted} thanks

* Do you have a specific route to contact them that works? I am trying all avenues and I am not sure what actually gets reviewed by Facebook. Which page do you submit over and over on until hopefully they respond?

* I’ve had the same issues as above, with Facebook. Submitted ID many times, no response. I recently tried to tweet Facebook security about it, no response. I was, however, contact by someone on Twitter claiming that they can hack into my account to retrieve it for me. Is this a thing or a scam? I’ve tried googling to see if there are scams like this out there but no luck. That want to charge $75 to do it. Are there really hack services out there that do this regularly?

Here is what to do

I don’t want to be getting phone calls and texts from the wonderful readers of the Mountain Ear so this is what you must do right now!

1. Log onto your Facebook account. Head over to “Settings and Privacy”.

2. Then click on “Settings”, and select “Security and Login”

3. You can change your password and set up two-factor authentication on this screen.

4, Next, head over to Instagram and change your password and set up 2FA for Instagram too.

Conclusion

This is a good time to change your password and set up 2FA for other social media accounts as well. Facebook and Instagram are the two which seem to be targeted right now, but I expect the hackers will get to Twitter, Pinterest, Tic Tok, etc. before too long.

There are actually people out there who will hack into a specific social media account for a fee. So be safe and follow the above advice before you lose your account!

Information about Geek For Hire

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has provided computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past nineteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly.  

Gail Eddy writes most of these articles. She’s the manager of Geek For Hire and is who you’ll likely talk to when you call for an appointment. 

Our Covid Policy can be found here: https://geekforhireinc.com/covid19-policy. 

Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

You can find more on our website or give us a call at 303-618-0154. 

(Originally published in the April 8, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)