(KTLA) — It happens all the time: hackers take control of Facebook accounts and their rightful owners can’t log in to get them back.
To keep this from happening to you, take a minute to set up a little known Facebook feature called Trusted Contacts to protect you.
It works by pre-selecting three to five friends. Then, if you ever get locked out of your account because a hacker takes over and changes your password, Facebook will send those friends a special code.
You can then contact these friends in real life to get the code and enter it into a recovery link.
Facebook knows you are the rightful owner of the account and hands you back control.
Here’s how to set it up.
Facebook mobile app:
- Open the Facebook app on your phone
- Tap the three lines in the lower right-hand corner (iOS) or upper right-hand corner (Android)
- Scroll down and tap Settings & Privacy
- Tap Settings
- Scroll down and tap Security & Login
- Scroll and look for the option to “Choose 3 to 5 friends to contact if you get locked out”
- Then follow the prompts to set up your Trusted Contacts
Desktop:
- Make sure you’re logged into your Facebook account and go here
- Scroll down to the section labeled “Setting Up Extra Security”
- Click the option to “Choose 3 to 5 friends to contact if you get locked out”
That’s all there is to it. I also highly recommend setting up two-factor authentication for your Facebook account. This will verify all logins to your account with special code texted to your phone.
