While you may skip over this post thinking that you don't need to download your Facebook account because, after all, it's right there in front of you where you can see it, so why download it? This post will show you how to download a copy of your Facebook account, and we hope we can convince you why it is a good idea.
You have to request the information, but it only takes a few seconds.
Ideally those who play games, those who are in alot of groups, users who have a ton of LIKES on their Facebook, and anyone who is active on Facebook every day should download their Facebook every other month. Less active users should download their accounts every five or six months.
The downloaded file includes posts, photos, and videos that you have shared. It also contains your messages, Chat conversations, and info from the About section of your profile.
Here are some examples of the information:
If you are going to deactivate your account OR use Facebook's "take a break" option, you SHOULD download your account.
If you know anything about us, you know that we demonstrate better by telling you a story. We do that so you'll know the reasons why we are suggesting that you follow our advice and/or take some course of action. Here's today's story that we hope will make an impression on your decision.
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Over the four day Thanksgiving weekend in 2017, a Hacker hacked the account of an Awesome group member. Although the Hacker could have been a "she," for the purposes of this post, we are going to refer to the Hacker as a "he."
The Awesome member wants to remain anonymous, so we will call her "Samantha," primarily because we didn't have any Samanthas in our groups for her identity to be guessed.
Right away, the Hacker changed Samantha's login and password - which was a lesson straight out of Hacking 101 handbook. He didn't remove her profile picture, so anyone looking from the outside would have seen nothing amiss.
After the Hacker changed Samantha's password, he evidently felt comfortable and set to work wreaking havoc on the account. He left her games intact, which is what he hacked the account for in the first place. Samantha was Royal Diamond TR Status, on level 9910 in Caesars and on level 10001 in Slotomania - a high level player.
While the Hacker was on Samantha's account, each time Samantha tried to login, he got the alert from Facebook that they stopped an intrusion and to please change password due to the suspicious activity.
Imagine that - telling a Hacker that the account he just hacked has suspicious activity.
He continued to work on the account. At this point, Samantha's profile picture was still on the account but there was no timeline activity or game activity going on that her friends would have been able to see.
Next, he deleted all of Samantha's photos in her 25+ photo albums (well over 300 photos of family, friends and co-workers, many vacations, family gatherings).
He did this so that if by any chance that Samantha were to try to answer certain questions to verify that the account was hers, the lack of photos would render the account unverifiable. Facebook wouldn't have any pictures to show Samantha to identify people in her own photos to verify that she knew them and that she owned the account.
Next, he unfriended and blocked all nine of Samantha's relatives (she made it easy to know who they were because each of their names were listed in the FAMILY AND RELATIONSHIPS with LIVE links to their Facebook accounts). The reason he did this because she had 5 of those relatives listed as her trusted contacts. If they also had her listed as a trusted contact, by deleting them from her list, and my making changes on her account, it removed HER from THEIR trusted contacts list. This was all done to cut down the messages or questions that MIGHT come into the account before he accomplished the reason for hacking the account.
Then he unfriended and blocked all but THREE of 4990+ of Samantha's friends - a job that took quite a few hours. We figure he had started on h is hack sometime before Samantha was having her Thanksgiving dinner with relatives. That meant he had a good 4 hours of uninterrupted time before Samantha had tried to login the first time.
Normally a player's friends list is valuable, but this Hacker didn't need Samantha's friends list because he had other reasons for hacking her account - he wanted her Playtika accounts which were connected to Facebook.
Unfriending and blocking her friends was a precautionary measure to
1) eliminate constant interruptions on Messenger, and
2) so they couldn't report the account as hacked (you can't report an account you can't see), and
3) so Samantha's friends couldn't be recruited to help her to recover her account.
The THREE people that he didn't unfriend and block were three people who he could not see because they had deactivated accounts.
You can UNFRIEND a deactivated account but it only removes the name from your friends list.
You cannot BLOCK a deactivated account because the account does not exist on Facebook.
Once he was done with unfriending and blocking Samantha's friends, he never returned to the list - he was done with that section.
During the course of the Hacker's activities on Samantha's account, two times Samantha had clicked FORGOT PASSWORD, and waited for Facebook to send the reset link to her phone, but it never came.
After Samantha's second attempt to login, Facebook's error message changed to say that Samantha's login didn't match a "live" account. She didn't understand what that meant and that's when she contacted us for help.
She never suspected that anything had happened with her phone and in fact, when the weekend was over, she wondered why she hadn't had any INCOMING calls to her phone. She made calls OUT and had spoken to several family members who had been at her home for Thanksgiving dinner, but no one had called TO her. All the people she spoke to were done by her making calls OUT.
Samantha didn't find out until Monday morning how the Hacker had contacted her mobile carrier and requested a new phone number.
Because Samantha's security questions and answers were the same ones on her Facebook account, the Hacker had no problem answering them correctly. The answers were the names of her relatives.
He told the Support Specialist that "his wife" was being harassed by an ex-boyfriend and he requested that a new phone number be assigned to her phone. He provided her birthdate and the last four digits of the credit card she used to pay her bill with every month - the same credit card she used on her Facebook account to buy game coins. Both birthdate and credit card information were available on her Facebook account.
To explain to you (the reader) - A 'live' account is an active account that has legitimate login information - either a valid email address or valid phone number.
If a Hacker replaces your login information with his own login, that makes yours information null and void - no longer a 'live' account on Facebook. It's like you never existed. The Hacker is the new owner of your account.
Because Samantha did not own a Facebook account at this point, she used her boyfriend's Facebook account to contact Cally Russell, John George and Maggie King.
Maggie King and John George didn't respond to Samantha, Cally Russell did.
All three were friends on Samantha's "old" Facebook account and now that they were unfriended and blocked by the Hacker, Samantha's account was not visible to Cally.
Cally knew her cousin had been friends on Samantha's account long before her cousin deactivated her account. To be able to see Samantha's account, Cally decided to take a chance. She re-activated her cousin's account and looked to see if Samantha's account was visble to her.
The Hacker never went back to the friends list to see if any of the three deactivated accounts were re-activated. It was a good thing he didn't because it was the back door that Cally Russell needed to be able to see Samantha's account.
Using her cousin's account, Cally saw that Samantha's former profile picture was removed.
It had been changed to a figure sporting a Guy Fawkes Mask. It was the way he was able to tell others in his Hacker's Anonymous group that he was successful and that the account was ready to be converted for use.
When Cally saw that profile picture, she knew that Samantha had been hacked by an expert.
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| Guy Fawkes Mask |
FYI
In this case, even though the Hacker deleted all of his victim's friends, he can't possibly delete them all because he can't see them all. And neither can you.
If you were to unfriend all of your friends, Facebook would still show you a handful of friends in "number" were left on your friends list, but when you look at your list, there isn't a single name on it.
That's because as Facebook accounts are deactivated, on the exit screen Facebook asks each user if they are going to come back in the next 30 days or will their deactivation be permanent.
Based on how exit questions are answered, Facebook determines which accounts they can safely delete permanently and which ones they need to leave in place in case the person wants to re-activate.
If an account continues getting Facebook notifications sent to their email, Facebook will automatically log certain accounts back in after 7 days, some in 30 days.
But the deactivated users who say they are never coming back and do not continue to get Facebook notifications, they are the ones that Facebook will remove so their names no longer appear on the lists of their friends as a deactivated account.
Cally's cousin didn't check that box. She left the option open to reactivate her account should she decide she wanted to login to her Facebook again.
If a deactivated account should periodically log back in to their Facebook account , their friends list is usually untouched except for those who unfriended them for deactivating, and their games are where they left off. Their profile picture fills in the spot on every Facebook account they are friends with and the account is now mixed in with everyone else as if nothing were amiss.
However, the busy Hacker might not notice the reactivation activity because he never came back to the friends list to look.
Cally reactivated her cousin's account and because Samantha was on her friends list before she quit Facebook, that is how she was able to see what was going on "from the outside looking in."
The change to the 'Guy Fawkes' profile picture actually worked in Samantha's favor because Cally used her cousin's account to report "Guy Fawkes" as a bad actor.
Immediately the Hacker was knocked off Facebook and the account was shut down. Using her cousin's account's Support Inbox, Cally was able to explain Samantha's situation to Facebook on the reply form they sent to say they had "removed the profile you reported."
In the meantime, Cally knew why Samantha hadn't gotten any INCOMING phone calls since this incident happened. She suspected the Hacker had either cloned Samantha's phone or had contacted the cell phone company and got the phone number changed.
Unfortunately anyone can change anyone else's phone number if they have the right information to answer security questions.
Cally instructed Samantha to call her cell provider and get another new phone number because at this point, it was unknown whether the Hacker was also given Samantha's new phone number when he requested the change for "his wife."
By now, it was Monday morning and that's when Samantha learned what the Hacker did to her cell account. It was as Cally had suspected.
Samantha got a new phone number assigned to her phone (free of charge) and she changed her security questions.
Cally told her to put a verbal passcode (a word or number that wasn't a social security number or a street or family name ) on her mobile account so that each time Samantha called (or someone who said they were calling on behalf of Samantha) and tried to make a change in service, or even if it was just to inquire about her bill, the Customer Service Agent had to ASK for the code before proceeding further. If the code is not provided, the conversation is over.
If a Hacker doesn't have that code, then he can't make any changes to Samantha's account.
This is good information for ANYONE to put in place -- but it was information that was TOO LATE for Samantha to save her Hacked account.
Short of hacking Samantha's hacked account herself, Cally decided to play it straight and use her cousin's account to report Samantha's as hacked.
Then Cally contacted four of her own friends who were never friends with Samantha and who could see her account when she gave them the profile link of Samantha's hacked account. They also reported Samantha's account as hacked.
The only contact with Facebook at this point was on the report that was filed using Support Inbox.
After much back and forth with Facebook Support, Facebook agreed to allow Samantha to login with a new phone number, change her password, upload her driver's license, but that didn't mean she was going to have full access to Facebook.
Facebook wanted to know if Samantha had ever downloaded a copy of her Facebook account because there was certain information on it that only she would have and if she provided it to Facebook, it would prove she was the account owner.
This was a lesson that Cally had covered in her PC Classes that she held on Facebook for her groups. If Samantha had downloaded her Facebook in the last year, AND had a copy of it still in her possession, AND provided requested information to Facebook -- then she would be granted full access to the account.
It is unconventional to re-activate a deactivated account to report someone's account has been Hacked. Cally has only done it four times before. Usually she uses other methods to recover Hacked accounts.
But if she hadn't done it, the account would have stayed lost, Samantha's games and game progress would belong to someone else. By using a deactivated account to do it, and teaching a lesson long ago about how a downloaded copy of one's Facebook account might come in handy someday --- that's how Cally got Samantha's account back for her.
Samantha is grateful for getting her account back and has learned some valuable lessons along the way.
DON'T put anything on your Facebook that a stranger can use against you when he Hacks your account.
ALWAYS assume someday you will get Hacked and you will think twice about what to put on your Facebook account.
NEVER put a phone number on your account when Facebook tells you they need it to get you "back into your account." Facebook is the least secure social media site on the Internet. We don't have to point out to you the truth of that statement.
NEVER use the same security questions on other accounts - credit cards, cellphone company, Facebook, bank, etc.
ALWAYS keep an up to date copy of your Facebook account which shows important information about IP addresses, credit card numbers that were in use, former passwords, friends list, etc.
The download also shows any intrusions or attempts to access your account that were stopped. And that's how this Hacker was located.
He had tried twice before to hack her and wasn't able to do it because he was doing it as a non-friend. Once he friended her, he was able to hack the account a lot easier.
A Hacker will almost always be on your friends list FIRST before he Hacks you.
Since she had downloaded a copy of her Facebook, certain information on it proved that the account was hers.
It is now nearly a year later and Samantha still doesn't have all her friends back. She has about 2000 of the 4990 she had.
However she was very fortunate that the Hacker had not transferred her game progress to another account, which is what would have been done. They petition Playtika to move everything to a new account, prove it with ID and security answers, and the old account is left with nothing.
She is also fortunate that the financial information on her Facebook account wasn't compromised. Cally still advised her to report the three credit cards she kept on her Facebook and she was issued new card numbers.
Within an hour, Samantha downloaded a new up to date copy of her Facebook, and her game progress with coin balances were noted to be intact.
The new copy of her downloaded Facebook account was compared with the old copy.
It showed her friends list before the Hack and after the Hack and it was easy to see what account the Hacker was using. It was another account he had hacked about a month before. That account was also reported as hacked and his access was immediately terminated.
If you haven't downloaded a copy of your Facebook in the last six months, do it now.
Go to SETTINGS, then at the bottom, click the live link that says DOWNLOAD A COPY OF Y OUR FACEBOOK DATA.
Follow the prompts. Sometimes you will have to wait for Facebook to contact you to tell you when it is ready and sometimes they will have it ready as soon as you go to the next screen. It all depends on how much stuff you have to download.
If you do NOT want to download a copy of your Facebook, you can do the following - but we warn you, it is way more complicated than a simple download.
PHOTOS
The only copy of your photos should not be the ones you posted on Facebook.
When you are putting up a picture on Facebook, right away - save a copy to your hard drive, a flash drive, your cloud or your drop box, ANYWHERE - so that you have a second copy. If that's too much trouble, then email it to your email that is OFF FACEBOOK, so when a Hacker hacks your account and deletes all your memories, you will still have the hard copy safely tucked away. When your photo ends up on someone else's account (like when your account is cloned for example), this is your PROOF that the photo was YOURS in the first place.
FRIENDS LIST
One of the things that makes Facebook accounts attractive to a hacker is the Public exposure of one's friends list. He can see all the names. Many users allow their FRIENDS to see all the names, and don't allow public view. Other users allow everything to hang out to be seen.
IF YOU DONT WANT TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FACEBOOK DATA -- Keep a master copy of all the names on your friends list. Each time you add a new friend, just type their name in where it falls alphabetically. You only have to make the list once, and you keep adding names to it. If someone unfriends you, you CAN remove the name, but we'd rather you made a note next to the name that they were no longer friends. This way if that person was HACKED or if they were a Hacker themselves, there is a record of the name being on your friends list.
Even if you get your account back, if a Hacker deleted your friends list, it is very difficult to find them all again. It's very helpful to have a copy of your friends list so you can send friend requests to regain your friends. It is also helpful to account recovery people like Cally Russell so she can see if the Hacker might have been on your friends list or used someone's account that was on your friends list.
GAME POST PRIVACY
Another attraction is public showing of game posts, especially for multiple games. The reason you post game brags are for your friends to see them, not for the public. So set them to FRIENDS, not PUBLIC.
When Hackers see all of that game activity, they figure it must have come at a price and that the gamer has some financial information on the account. He usually isn't wrong.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
There is one more attraction that draws a Hacker's attention and that is showing personal information -- your address history, your current occupation, your phone number and live links to family members. It doesn't matter if you have it set to PUBLIC, FRIENDS or ONLY ME. When the Hacker gets on your account, anything you have set to ONLY ME means HIM because once he gets your account - HE IS YOU.
We know Facebook asks for a phone number to secure your account, but it doesn't mean you have to give it to them. Use trusted contacts or two step verification as your security. Don't use a phone number.
To safeguard your friends list, it should always be set to ONLY ME which means ONLY YOU can see all of the names on it. Some players are relaxed on that, they set it to FRIENDS, so their whole friends list can be seen by NEW friends as soon as a new friend request is accepted.
Remember this: A Hacker will almost always be on your friends list first because it is easier to hack when friends.
If you set things to ONLY ME, a Hacker won't see any of that from Public view or Friends view. If all things set to ONLY ME, you are NOT interesting. He will assume you have nothing of value. In that case, the setting ONLY ME acts as a deterrent and he won't bother to friend you.
REMEMBER:
After he becomes your friend, anything you have set to ONLY ME means the Hacker can also see it when he takes over your account because by that time, HE IS YOU.
If the above is too involved to do in place of downloading your Facebook data - you're right, it is.
Sooooooooooooooo...................
Our advice to you is to reconsider your decision - to download a copy of your Facebook account to your device or to a flash drive. This way you have a copy of your friends list, your game levels, messages, photos, groups -- any activity that happened on your account.
Today,
Snap a picture of your TR card that shows your points progress. Go to the REWARDS button on your game and click on TR card, snap the first screen showing your TR number, then snap the next screen showing your Game Progress. Do the same for your game screen showing your level.
If you have not joined TR REWARDS, please do so because that is how you get your game coins and progress moved over to a new account, if you ever get Hacked, lose your present account or somehow your game gets corrupted. If you set it up AFTER any of that happens, you have helped the Hacker prove he is you and he can move your progress over, and you'll never have access to it again.
DOWNLOAD YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT
Click the three dots in the top right hand corner of your Facebook page and then click “Settings” link.
Now go to the bottom of the page and locate the “Download a copy of your Facebook data” link.
Click the “Start My Archive” button which will prompt you for your password
A popup notification will tell you that the process might take some time. The more data you have on Facebook, the longer it will take.
Confirm, then click Continue button.
Once the download is done, you’ll receive a notification sent to your primary email address. After you see this notification, it is safe to browse away from the page. It won't take that long, maybe 3 to 5 minutes.
If you become more active on Facebook with adding pictures, joining groups, making more friends, etc. then you might want to download again every few months.
USE FACEBOOK "HELP" section if you have any questions because we can't help you from here. The information on your account is what will be used to answer your questions and only Facebook can do that on the question form you use to ask your question.
We hope this has been helpful. We hope you will follow through with the download and all the other safety measures we discussed on this post.
Please rate this post from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) on whether it was of any value or interest to you. This is so we know what kind of information to keep posting on this site. Thank you.
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