Q: How can I get an answer from Facebook? Periodically, I get a message saying they locked my account because someone tried to sign into it. They show a date, time and location and ask if it was me. Sometimes it was me, other times it wasn’t. No matter how I answer, I’m told that my account is secure, but I have to reset my password, which I then do. I’ve now changed my password seven times. My account works for a while. Then the same message re-appears. If my password catches an unauthorized attempt at access, why do I have to change it? I would like to know how to contact Facebook to see how I can fix this. Could you help me? ~ Bill Bradish, Littleton
Tech+ Passwords are a pain — and there’s a security movement to move on to something better.
Short answer to your question: Contact the company by going to your Facebook homepage and pressing the question mark in a circle in the top right corner. Then click “Report a Problem” and follow the directions.
But first, getting an email to reset your Facebook password is definitely alarming at first. After several similar messages, something indeed should seem fishy. I touched on this a few years ago and a spokesman from Facebook responded with what likely has happened: Mistypes.
“You may receive an email from Facebook if someone requests a password reset after entering your email address. This can happen if someone mistypes their own email address when trying to regain access to their account. What’s important to remember is that receiving an email about a password reset request doesn’t impact the security of your account. There’s no need to change your password, but you can let us know if you didn’t make the request.”
But don’t just shrug this off. There really could be someone targeting your account. Facebook has rolled out other ways to protect accounts in ways that are similar to how Google, Amazon, your bank and others have expanded security options.
Within the security settings, you can have Facebook alert you when someone actually logs in from a device or browser you don’t normally use. Go to “Settings,” then “Security and Login,” and review the options.
There’s also an option to see recent emails from Facebook. This way you’ll know whether the strange message in your inbox actually came from Facebook — or whether it was a malicious phishing message trying to get you to share a password with a stranger. Here, you can also tell Facebook “I didn’t ask for this” message.
Facebook also lets users pick up to five people as “trusted contacts” that will help you log into your account if you are having trouble.
Most importantly though, turn on two-factor authentication. This will require anyone who logs into your account to know the password and type in a code that is sent via text message to your phone (other options are available).
Of course, this won’t prevent everything — such as if someone steals my phone too — but my phone is also protected, making it more difficult for someone to break into the phone and then access my Facebook account, a pretty boring account anyway.
Hopefully Facebook isn’t your only concern when it comes to securing your digital life. Add two-factor authentication on critical sites like email accounts and bank accounts. If you are having to remember multiple passwords, try a password generator, such as LastPass or Dashlane (PCMag has reviews of its top 10 password managers at dpo.st/passwordmanagers). And if you’re too stubborn and insist on using the same password everywhere, please at least use a unique one just for your email — because if hackers get your email password, they have control of your digital life.
Past stories that offer more password and security tips:
- Get control of your passwords
- Using two-factor authentication when you don’t have access to a smartphone app
- Can you really trust that stranger you just gave access to your computer?
- Your password is terrible and everyone wants to fix that
- Your mother’s maiden name is not a secret. Here are some tips for securing your data.
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