What to Do When a Friend’s Facebook Account is Hacked or DupedA cloned Facebook account uses the name and photo from the real account to trick people into giving up information. Here’s how to recognize a cloned Facebook account and what to do if you suspect a friend’s account has been hacked or scammed.Getting your Facebook account hacked is a nightmare. When a scammer takes over your friend’s Facebook account, they gain access to that person’s friends list. The hackers can then use phishing techniques, deceive other Facebook users, and distribute malware to you and everyone else on that person’s Facebook friends list. Even worse, if your friend’s Facebook account was not hacked, but cloned. In this case, you have no one to blame but yourself for being deceived.
What Is a Cloned Facebook Account?
Cloning a Facebook account is a simple scam that has been around for years. In short, a scammer is using one of your online accounts to get public information about you. They then use the information contained on your profile page (such as your profile picture, cover photo, date of birth, biography, school or job information) to create a new account in your name.They will use this account to trick your friends into revealing their personal information, clicking on malicious links, and engaging in other fraudulent activities. For example, scammers may ask your friend to send them money to help you in a difficult situation. While the person usually won’t send money to a stranger right away, they can do it without a second thought if they think you (his friend) are in trouble.
How to Recognize Facebook Account Cloning
Strictly speaking, Facebook account cloning is not a hack, but a trick used by cunning scammers to hack social media accounts. A cloned account is a copy of your account that uses information from your Facebook Page.If a scammer spends a lot of time and effort duplicating your or your friend’s account, it may be difficult for other users to spot them right away. However, you can use one sure sign to recognize a cloned account and report it to the actual owner of the account. This badge is a duplicate of the friend request. 
If you or your friends start getting repeated friend requests from someone who is already on their friends list, this is a clear sign of a cloned Facebook account. On Facebook, if you’ve already sent someone a friend request, you can’t send another one as the platform doesn’t have that option. So if you receive a friend request from someone you are sure is already on your friends list, you can safely assume that a scammer is behind it.
What to Do When a Friend’s Facebook Account is Hacked or Duped
If you suspect that someone has copied your friend’s Facebook account, here’s what you should do immediately.
Find the owner of the real account
When you receive a new friend request from someone who is already on your friends list, there is still a chance that it is the real person who created the second account. Before reporting this account to Facebook, find the real owner of the account and ask them about the duplicate.Open Facebook and use the Search function (top left corner of the screen) to find the original Facebook profile you suspect was duplicated. You can also find the original account in your Facebook friends list. 
If the account owner created a new Facebook profile, they probably announced it on their original page. If you don’t find such an ad on their page, select Message and ask them for a second profile directly in Facebook Messenger. If they don’t know about the second account, let them know about the Facebook account being cloned and that someone might be using their personal information without permission.
Report a hacked or scammed Facebook account
Facebook has an algorithm that allows you to report an account that you think is fake. If you’re sure the account you’re viewing is fake, follow these steps to report a fake account to Facebook. Instructions vary depending on the device you are using.To report a scammed or hacked Facebook account online, follow these steps:
- Open Facebook on your desktop.
- Go to the account you want to report and open its profile page.
- Select More (three horizontal dots in the top right corner) > Find support or report.
- In the Report menu, select one of the reasons: Impersonate someone, Fake account, Fake name or whatever .
Follow the steps below to report your Facebook account on the mobile app.
- Open Facebook on your smartphone and navigate to the account you want to report.
- On your profile page, select More > Report Profile.
- In the Select an issue section, select the reason for reporting the account.
- Follow the instructions and provide Facebook with all the necessary information. Then select Submit or Submit.
You can also report a hacked Facebook account using the link facebook.com/hacked. Just follow the on-screen instructions to give Facebook an overview of your situation and report suspicious activity. If the cloned account has blocked you, you can ask your Facebook friends to follow the same procedure and report it to Facebook.You can report someone pretending to be you or your friend even if you don’t have a Facebook profile (or don’t currently have access to your Facebook profile). To do this, follow the link, fill out the Report Impostor form and submit it to Facebook.
Report account hacked or scammed in Messenger
If you use Facebook Messenger as a standalone app, you can also use it to report a friend’s compromised Facebook account. Accounts impersonating others are not allowed in Messenger. Follow the instructions below if you come across an account impersonating you or someone else.
- In Messenger, find the fake profile conversation and select the info icon in the top right corner.
- Scroll down to Privacy and select Report.
- Select a reason for the text message, for example Impersonating someone. Then choose who this person claims to be: Me, Friend, Celebrity.
- Select Submit Report to confirm.
How to Protect Your Friends (and Yourself) From Hackers
There are several methods a Facebook user can use to protect their account from hackers. If you want to prevent your friend’s account from being compromised or duplicated, share the following privacy and security tips with them.
Hide Facebook friends list
Once the hacker creates a duplicate of your Facebook account, he will start targeting people found on your friends list and send them fake friend requests. To avoid this, you can simply hide your Facebook friends list from other users.To do this, go to your Facebook account settings and follow the path Settings > Privacy > < span style="font-weight:bold">How can people find and contact you > Who can see your friends list? Select on the right Edit and select one of the options from the dropdown menu. If you want to make your friends list private, select Just Me.
Make your Facebook account private
After you make your Facebook friends list private, you can go one step further and make your entire Facebook account private. You can do this in your account’s privacy settings.
Check your Facebook security settings
Even if you think you have a strong Facebook password, it’s not always enough to protect yourself from hackers. To be on the safe side, we recommend checking your Facebook account security settings.You can set up additional security measures in the Security and Login section, such as enabling notifications for unrecognized logins and two-factor authentication. 
When you turn on two-factor authentication, Facebook will send a text message with a unique code to your phone number every time you try to sign in from an unrecognized device. This makes it much harder for hackers to access your Facebook account.
What’s Next?
When you discover that your friend’s Facebook account has been compromised or duplicated, the most important thing to do is report it to Facebook as soon as possible. You can then tell your other Facebook friends about the duplicate so they can also report it as a fake.Creating fake or duplicate accounts is against Facebook policies and they take these posts seriously. If Facebook receives multiple messages about the same account, they will likely take quick action and close the fake account before any damage is done.
What to Do When a Friend’s Facebook Account is Hacked or Duped
What to Do When a Friend’s Facebook Account is Hacked or Duped