Here’s how to check if your Facebook account has been cloned or hacked

This week, a hoax message on Facebook has circulated widely – and got a lot of users worried about their accounts being cloned or hacked.

The message says, ‘Hi….I actually got another friend request from you yesterday…which I ignored so you may want to check your account.’

It then urges users to forward it to all their friends.

It’s fake – so users shouldn’t worry if they see it – but if you’re worried that someone may have got into your account, there are steps to take (below).

Facebook said in a statement, ‘We’ve heard that some people are seeing posts or messages about accounts being cloned on Facebook.

‘It takes the form of a “chain mail” type of notice. We haven’t seen an increase in incoming reports of impersonation (cloned accounts).

‘The volume of these types of posts isn’t a good measure for how often impersonation is actually happening.’

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If you’re worried you’ve been hacked, Facebook has a series of guides on how to get back in (although it helps to be prepared).

Facebook says to watch out if you notice any of the following:

Your email or password have changed
Your name or birthday have changed
Friend requests have been sent to people you don’t know
Messages have been sent that you didn’t write
Posts have been made that you didn’t create

You can see which devices are currently using your account (and where they are), by going to Settings > Security and Login and checking ‘Where You’re Logged In’.

In this menu, you can flag devices as ‘Not You’. and also manually log them out.

Facebook says, ‘If the email associated with your Facebook account has changed, you can reverse this. When an email is changed, we send a message to the previous email account with a special link. You can click this link to reverse the email change and secure your account.’

If you think you’ve been hacked, you can change your Facebook password here.

Facebook has a detailed guide on how to get back into a hacked account, which is available here.