I don’t know how many of you were my Facebook friends, or how many of you liked or followed The Grammar Diva Facebook page, but I assume that would be some of you (yes, I intentionally used the past tense). I had more than 2600 Facebook friends and over 4000 Likes on my business page. I was, to say the least, a frequent Facebook user and poster.
On Tuesday, May 17, I woke up to find five e-mails from Facebook. These had arrived in my inbox between 2 and 3 a.m. The first two were verification codes to reset my password. The third was a message saying that my password had been reset. They gave me this information: Windows, Edge browser, IP address, and place. I don’t have Windows, I had never heard of Edge, it was not my IP address, and it said Orlando, which is not my location. I guess Facebook wasn’t suspicious. The next e-mail said I was removed as administrator of my business page, and I was given that same information about the origin. The last e-mail said my video was ready. What video???? Possibly the video that was objectionable enough to shut “my” account down. Oh, and the next day I received notification of a $250 charge to my credit card through Paypal for Facebook ads. Thanks, hackers. So I needed to shut down my credit card and change all my finance-related passwords, my Apple password, and my Amazon password (I got an e-mail that someone in Viet Nam tried to get into my Amazon account and knew my password). And shortly after all this, I got a few e-mails about friends I had accepted. You can see their profile pictures on those e-mails. One said “Power to Palestine.” These were not people I knew or would request to be friends with. For a while, when I was still attempting to change my password again (in hopes it would allow me to get into my account), Facebook was sending me verification code e-mails written in Somalian!
Since that time, here is what I have done:
- I tried to contact Facebook. Of course, there is no phone number or contact information.
- I tried to contact Facebook through Twitter. Facebook Security on Twitter has no means of messaging them. I messaged some Facebook-run account, and they never answered of course. They provide links for help. Ha!
- All their “helpful” links assume you can get into the account. My account was no longer visible to anyone on Facebook, although the business page may have been.
- I went in on someone else’s account to report what had happened. No response.
- I have changed my Facebook password a zillion times. Nothing. At first Facebook would not accept my phone number and said it was not connected with any Facebook account.
- I finally found the “Shake Your Phone” option. You can shake your cell phone and report a problem. I have probably done that 50 times. I get a big message that says “I disagree with your decision.” I assume this means I disagree with whatever they found objectionable enough to shut me down — except it wasn’t me, and I don’t know what it was anyway. My point to them was that I was hacked, and I want my account back. They give you 30 days and then they permanently remove the account. It says that it usually takes “a little more than a day” to review the issue. What is a little more than a day???? That was, incidentally on May 20. They do say that because of Covid, they have fewer people to review the account, and it may never get reviewed. And once they decide, you can’t appeal. But then, the new TV ad says they have 40,000 security people to keep us safe.
- I got another e-mail later on asking me to verify my identity by sending a scan of my ID. I looked up on Google whether this was legit; does Facebook ask for ID verification this way? and Google entries said yes, so I sent a scan of my driver’s license. I got an e-mail back saying they received it. I looked at the e-mail requesting this a day or two ago, and it looked questionable to me.
- A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Facebook saying that some other e-mail address, which they provided me, had been verified and removed from my account, so now I could log in on my usual e-mail again. That e-mail made no sense, and I still could do nothing.
- I tweeted about my issue and saw many people had the same exact problem with no response at all. A couple of people offered to help, but I didn’t want to pay for a subscription and I didn’t trust the other one.
- I even went so far as to look up people on LinkedIn who work in Facebook security and try to connect with them. I messaged my issue. I think they may have connected, but they didn’t answer my questions.
- A colleague of mine knew someone who might be able to help, but I e-mailed and got no response.
- Finally, I gave up and opened a new e-mail account and used it to open a new Facebook account. I started to collect friends and decided to just have people I know. I still had no business page, but I posted a few business-related posts. Oddly enough, those posts traveled over to my old business page, although my new personal page did not show that I was connected to my business page — and I could not post directly on my business page.
- A couple of days later, Facebook notified me that they thought I was using multiple accounts, so they shut down my new account. My old account is still visible when I try to change my password, although no one can get in, including me. But the new one is completely gone.
- I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Facebook has lots of complaints like mine, but they never respond to the BBB.
- I am considering writing Facebook a certified letter. They do have an address on their e-mails. It says their address is One Facebook Way. Oddly enough, the Better Business Bureau lists their address as One Hacker Way, which is more like it.
Losing Facebook means that in addition to losing my personal and business pages, I lose Messenger and Instagram, both of which I used.
What else can I say? If you would like to go into your account and report this situation, I would appreciate it.
Hi Arlene,
So very sorry I haven’t replied before now. I’ve been hacked by FB so many times I just gave up. No business page. I don’t even go onto my personal Cate Parke page and my Donna Goode page where I can spend time with my brothers and sisters-in-law, cousins and old, old friends. As to social media, I’m simply going to use my website. I have to confess you’re a much better blogger than I am, and this is where I come to learn more about everything you have to say. I appreciate it so much. I’m loving your books and use them a LOT. Again, thank you. Just keep up this blog. A lot of us pay attention. Good luck to you!
Oh, wow! Thank you so much for all those kind words, Cate!!! I try to keep up the blog (that is the only work I do really consistently!), but it is difficult to think of new ideas! Any help from readers is always appreciated! I have received lots of positive feedback about the blog, so it is important to me to keep it up.
Keep it up, Arlene. We all still look forward to your blogs.
~Cate
Thanks sooo much!
The loss of FaceBook is no great loss. I deleted my account months ago, and I have survived quite well. The only annoyance is when people have FB pages that I have to sign in to FB to see. No alternative? They don’t get my business.
Tony – I do get your point. But some of the people I associate with on FB are not on any other social media and I feel as if I am missing out on what is gong on with them. And then, I do miss my business page; it has a lot of likes and I am sure some loyal readers.
This is the best way to avoid unnecessary messages at Facebook. I always omit or eras any unfavourable messages, photos which anoyed me. Good luck
Thanks!
Hello Arlene,
I guess you went to hell! Your terrible adventures proves I’ve been right never to join Facebook… The only place I’ve agreed to register to is LinkedIn, for professional reasons, but I’m not very active there.
The whole time I was reading your article, I was thinking “write a snail mail, write a snail mail”, to discover you did it in the end. Zuckerberg and friends have created monsters, medusae (don’t we feel paralyzed once we’re kicked out?) that have become out of control. Those things are scary.
I can’t imagine how much time you’ve spent trying to solve your problem, as if you had nothing better to do! Maybe some day someone will try to calculate the financial burden those stupid hackers create. I think the best thing to do is to shout your problem. Each time someone has to go through this, shout it to the media. FB and friends care about their image. So scratch it! Have the media report the lack of help, professionalism from these companies. They’ll react one day.
In the meantime, I sympathize and wish you good luck solving your problem.
Agnès
Thanks so much for your post. I haven’t written that letter, but I will. I a trying to become more active on LinkedIn, which is more appropriate for me, business-wise, as I said. I have spent so much time and stress on this and have shouted it on LinkedIn and Twitter, but I don’t have that many people reading it. I have had some offers to help from Twitter. I “hired” one of them. No comment on tht, I also called and left a message with the Identity Theft Nonprofit.
I’m sorry that you’re not able to post new stuff on Facebook. At least I can keep up with you on Twitter. I found it fascinating that you stuck with grammar only on Facebook while you often post politically liberal stuff on Twitter. I post grammar and liberal politics on either site, for I’m on SSDI. I checked your Facebook site and there were three odd videos on there that looked like a view of the Earth from a plane. What’s going on??
Yes, I try to stick to grammar on Twitter, but my I can’t stop myself, and my political posts get more attention! Yes, it appears gamers have taken over the business account on Facebook.
What an absolute nightmare. I am so sorry you are going through this,
I think FB and Mark are a disaster. No longer is FB a fun tool and I rarely use it except for joining groups when I take classes and even then I rarely use it. My FB has been hacked but so far, quite harmless. I am seriously considering just closing my account. Your experience is pushing me faster in that direction.
Again, so sorry you have to deal with such insanity. No way for them to run a company.
I know sympathy or empathy doesn’t get the problem solved, but at least you know we care.
Good Luck! Athena
Thanks, Athena, I agree. Facebook used to be fun, and now it is ridiculous. They are constantly putting people in “Facebook jail” for no reason while they allow hackers to take over accounts, and they o nothing about it. They should be shut down for zero customer service with so many customers. Believe me, I appreciate that you care.
Hi Arlene.
Dreadfully sorry to hear of your issues with FB etc. They are a s***h****e company. Zuckerberg and the “team” care not about you or anyone else. They are in it for the money and to help the Republican party.
I haven’t been on FB for more than a decade. Yet, I get requests every day to a) change my password, b) add my phone/mobile number, c) your account has been hacked, please click to reactivate it, and d) a fee for reinstating my account.
All of my messages to FB have gone unanswered.
Even though I live in China, I reported the FB activity to the BBB. They haven’t had the courtesy to reply.
Social media needs control from an outside source. Zuckerberg, and others like him, aka Musk, have become solipsistic, narcissistic gazillionaires and think they rule the world.
I hope things return to normal for you.
Regards from Beijing,
David
PS you may recall I indicated I had been booted from LinkedIn.
I agree with every word you said. And because they help Republicans, that is reason enough for me not to use them. LinkedIn is really the place for me, business wise, so I need to concentrate on that. How did you get booted from LinkedIn? Yikes. I have been thinking I had better not do anything to upset them!!
Hi Arlene,
It’s a long story. It began when I opposed a number of CEOs on LI who supported Trump. The battle of words became quite heated, and one of the CEOs reported me to LI for defaming Trump. (Can you believe that?)
LI sent me a notice indicating my language was beyond what LI accepted and issued a warning.
Later, some of those CEO’s acolytes discovered I lived in China and began to accuse me of being a China apologist. In fact, I was threatened by one of them, an American, who lived in Shanghai at that time. His threats became so alarming, that I contacted the US Embassy in Beijing and spoke to the FBI agent who then contacted the guy who threatened me. The threats stopped.
The rhetoric and accusations escalated. Other contacts on LI rallied to my side – the result, the five of u were banned for life from LI.
The entire episode was a sordid mess.
Take care of your dear self.
David
Jeesh! That is a story. I find it hard to believe that so many people on LI are right wingers.
All in all that appears to be the current state of social media platforms/networks for you now😜😛😝
Yup. And Facebook is definitely the most poorly run. After all, they helped Russia.
Particularly with the misinformation AND disinformation part overall, right?
I am very angry at them, but I still like Facebook! I have limited Facebook right now!
What a huge bummer! So sorry to read this. I did just search for your page on FB. It’s entitled “Arlene Miller, The Grammar Diva” with the following subtitle “@TheGrammarDiva – Gaming video creator.” The first (actually last, chronologically) four posts are videos of some blow-em-up video game. After that , old posts of yours, the last one from May 16.
Clicking on the three dots at the top of the page, I selected “Report Page.” There were a number of choices at that point, the most likely appearing to be “Scams and Fake Pages,” but clicking on that brought up a number of choices, none of which really fit your circumstance. (There should be a “Page Hijacked” option, but there isn’t.) I clicked on a couple of them (“Misleading Page Name Change” and “Fake Page.” In both cases a box came up indicating that it had been reported and suggesting that I could Unfollow or Block the page. Nothing more than that. Another choice was “Pretending to be Another Person,” but that asked me for the name of the “real” person that was being pretended, so I skipped that one.
Doubt if anything I did helped; hopefully didn’t make matters worse. Best of luck, Arlene! Sorry this happened to you. I will miss your entertaining and edifying post on FB.
John, Thanks so much for your support and help. Yes, my daughter and friends have told me about the gaming thing. And Facebook allows them to have my page. Wow. It’s funny that the last posts from me are May 16. I was hacked May 17, so I get that, but when I put up some posts after I created my new personal page, they appeared on The Grammar Diva page fr some weird reason (I couldn’t post on that business page. I guess they need to hire some more security people in addition to the 40,000 they have! Thanks so much for reporting it. My daughter and some friends also have reported it. I think I will shake my phone and report it again. I can’t get into the account to report it from there. The reporting instructions, as you said, are poor.