Getting your Facebook page or ads account hacked is certainly an unnerving experience. After all, aside from gaining information about your business or brand, hackers will also have access to your payment methods once they get into your account.

In most cases, hackers hack into an ads account to run suspicious or fake ads. They use your credit card or other payment method associated with your account to run their ads.

Depending on your account’s billing settings and the magnitude of the cyber-attack, you could end being charged for thousands of dollars in just a few minutes because of the hackers’ unauthorized ads.

Take Immediate Action

Deactivate Unauthorised Ads

If your account gets hacked, the first thing that you have to do is turn off or deactivate the fake or unauthorized ads created by the hackers.

Although doing so will not immediately solve all of the issues related to your hacked account, turning the suspicious ads off will give you time to carry out the necessary steps to fix the problem.

Also, deactivating the ads will stop Facebook from charging your credit card or other payment methods connected to your account.

Check Hackers’ Activities

Unfortunately, turning off unauthorized ads doesn’t always work. If the hackers already have access to your ads account, they can easily reactivate the fake ads every time you turn them off.

To check if someone is reactivating the ads you have deactivated, click on the clock-shaped icon on the right-hand side panel of your Ads Manager account.

Through this feature, you’ll be able to view the history of the changes made to your account based on the date range that you set.

Aside from showing when the fake or suspicious ads were activated, this feature will also show the name of the person or account that made the changes.

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Report the Incident

Get In Touch With Facebook

After deactivating the unauthorized ads and restricting the hacker’s access to your ads account, get in touch with Facebook to report the incident.

Unfortunately, you probably won’t be able to speak to someone from Facebook in person, even though the issue with your account is pretty serious.

Instead, you can get in touch with the social media giant either through the Live Chat or email messaging feature of its Facebook for Business Help page.

After reaching out to Facebook to explain what happened to your account, make sure to file a report through its Ads Payment Section.

Through the form’s options, you’ll be able to notify Facebook regarding the unauthorized charges made to your account because of the fake ads.

Notify Payment Providers

Aside from Facebook, you should also contact the company that handles the payments connected to your ads account, which could be your credit card provider or PayPal.

Notify them about the unauthorized charges to your account and ask them if they could stop payments to Facebook until everything has been sorted out.

You’ll also be able to process the necessary refunds or payment cancellations through this step.

Securing Your Account

Consider Your Account’s Multiple Access Points

Although it’s easy to assume that the person reactivating the unauthorized ads is the one who hacked into your ads account, this usually isn’t the case.

Most of the time, this person, who is probably a team member with access to your ads account, was also targeted by the hacker. There’s a good chance that his or her account was hacked in order to gain access to your ads account.

Tracking Suspicious Login Activities

Tracking down the account that the hacker used to gain control of your ads account is a vital step in solving the problem.

One possible way to accomplish this is by asking everyone who has access to your ads account to click on the Security and Login tab in the Settings page.

From here, you’ll be able to see a section that shows you the devices and locations related to the login activities.

A suspicious login activity, such as from an unrecognized device or location, is a clear indicator that the account has been hacked.

Once you have identified which account has been hacked, immediately remove its access to your ad account by clicking on the People tab in the Setting page.

From here, you’ll be able to remove access for the account that has been hacked.

Create A New Password

To make sure that your Facebook page or ads account doesn’t get hacked again, adjust the settings of your account and carry out a couple of safety measures. These include changing your password, which should be done intermittently, and enabling two-factor authentication.

Through this security feature, hackers won’t be able to access your account as long as they don’t have your phone or mobile device.

Restrict Access To Ads Account

Also, if you’re working with a team or small company, limit the number of people who have access to your Facebook page and ads account. Doing so will lower the chances of someone gaining unauthorized access to your account.

You should also set up your account’s Login Alerts feature so it will notify you whenever someone accesses your Facebook page or ads account using a new device.

Establish Spending Limits

Another security measure that you should practice is establishing spending limits on your ads account. Like a security blanket, the spending limit will reduce the cost of the unauthorized ads created by hackers.

Although the hackers can adjust the spending limits once they gain access to your account, you will be notified by the system regarding the changes. This feature could serve as another alert system for your account.

Improve Your Company’s Cyber Security

In addition to securing your Facebook ads account, improving the company’s overall security measures can also help protect the organization’s operations.

After all, in today’s digital age, most of a company’s activities are conducted online, which makes it more vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

For instance, in October 2021, it was reported that private hospital group Macquarie Health Corporation was targeted by hackers.

In a dark web post, the hackers claimed that they were able to gain access to the personal data and information of about 6,700 individuals, which included passwords for PayPal, Facebook, and Amazon.

This type of incident highlights the significance of cyber security. If you are a marketer, a business owner, or a company executive that handles the online presence and activities of your organization, it’s important to follow certain security guidelines to avoid being targeted and victimised by hackers.

Enforce Password Rules

As a business owner or company official, it’s important to enforce strict password rules to ensure that the accounts of your employees are secure and not susceptible to hacking.

Aside from using strong passwords, regularly updating or changing them can also prevent hackers from gaining unauthorized access to the accounts related to your company.

Maintain Regular Software Updates

If your company or place of work relies on certain software or programs for your operations, it’s important to update them regularly.

Aside from introducing and installing new security features, these regular updates and maintenance procedures can also fix software errors and issues that can lead to vulnerabilities.

Upgrade Security Protocols

As mentioned earlier, using two-factor authentication can prevent hackers from accessing your account, since this usually requires using another device.

Asking your employees and team members to use multi-factor authentication methods can provide added security layers to your company’s online accounts.  

Simulate Phishing Attacks

For large companies or those that have multiple departments and several team members, you can analyse the cyber security awareness of employees by conducting phishing simulations.

This activity involves sending fraudulent messages that ask for information related to the company’s accounts. Doing so allows you to identify which of your employees are susceptible to falling for phishing attacks.

Implement The Use Of VPNs

Relying on the standard security measures provided by generic networks can leave your company vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

You can avoid this by implementing the use of virtual private networks (VPNs), especially for employees who tend to work remotely and often connect through public Wi-Fi networks.

Doing so ensures that you and your staff members are accessing the company’s accounts and social media channels using a secured network

Many Facebook Ads Experts believe that using different security features is important in order to keep your account safe. Aside from using these features, you can also ask the help of a Facebook ads agency to handle your business or brand’s ads account. In addition to keeping your account safe, the agency’s social media experts will ensure that your Facebook marketing strategy will run smoothly. A proper Facebook marketing agency can guarantee the success and safety of your online business or brand.

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