So many people get upset by evil doers on Facebook. You can solve 99.99% of the problem yourself by simply setting your “friends list” visibility to private so only you can see it.
It is very very rare that a Facebook account was actually “hacked”, unless you used a poor password or were tricked into giving your password to an app or some bogus website. If that’s the case, you really shouldn’t be on Facebook anyway. At least not until you figure out why and how this happens.
But the chances are, you were not hacked. You were likely “cloned”. Cloning means the bad guy created a new account using your profile photo. Remember, your profile photo and your cover photo are visible to anyone who can see your profile. It’s simple for a bad person to download your photo and then create an account that LOOKS LIKE YOU.
If the bad guy can see your “friends list”, he can then use this newly created clone account to send your friends stuff including friend requests BECAUSE HE COULD SEE WHO THEY ARE. Set you privacy correctly and this NEVER happens.
Protect not only yourself, but your friends as well! SET YOUR FRIENDS LIST VISIBILITY TO PRIVATE. Just do it and avoid 99.99% of the problems so many people have on Facebook. It’s frustrating, but it’s the safest thing to do. Your friends will thank you!
Below are the steps on how to do it. These steps below assume you are using the Facebook app on your phone.
First select what is known in the industry as the “hamburger” at the top right of your app. It looks like this… Circled in red…
Then scroll down until you see the “ACCOUNT SETTINGS” option and select it. It looks like this…
Then scroll on the next screen, select “PRIVACY”. Like this…
On the next screen select “WHO CAN SEE MY FRIENDS LIST” like this…
And then you will be on the last screen. Select “ONLY ME”. Like this…
Then push the left arrow at the top of the screen three or four times to return to the main application. Depending on your phone you may have to hit the phone’s BACK button after the three left arrows in the app.
Vern Six is a freelance computer programmer and entrepreneur. He is a United States Army certified survival expert and former full-time Christian missionary having lived in Guatemala helping spread God’s word. Vern has been a hobby blogger for nearly seven years. You can learn more about Vern by visiting his website at http://AccordingToVern.com or by visiting the the Facebook fan page at http://facebook.com/accordingtovern