Facebook

My name is {{Redacted}}. I have recently had to make a new account due to my original account getting hacked by a scammer who was able to change my email address in the account along with the phone number to where I am no longer able to sign into my original account. I am pissed because Facebook has not helped me in any way on regaining my original account and when the hacker was in my Facebook during the time of it being taken over I was not emailed any changed notifications that was going on in my own account to double-check that it was not somebody else as this person was in a different state. I have had my original account for over 10-15 years with no issues, I have been locked out of that account many times and Facebook was a success on helping me retrieve it, but apparently not this time around. I have lost over 15 years of photos that are not backed up on anything else along with friends and family that was on my friends list and I cannot retrieve all of them back as I have had a few of them pass away on me. I had to report my original Facebook account many times as the scammer had already locked me out and so that he could stop messaging my friends and family. He was able to get multiple hundreds of dollars from my friends and family along with their accounts as well. Something this big and this major should not be ignored by Facebook, as my scammer has all of my photos he can easily pretend to be me using my photos that was on that account,not to mention, talk about invading my privacy!. That to me doesn't sound like a very secured Facebook!
It started out with a friend of mine messaging me to be able to send me an email so they can get back into their own account. To my knowledge that this was legit because I have done that before with my husband's email and was able to regain access to login. But since this person was pretending to be a friend of mine, I gave him the six digit code he was able to attach his account to mine and completely boot me off from that point on. I did not give him any sort of permission to take my account, I was simply helping who I thought was a friend. Come to find out the friend of mines account has been hacked for a long time without Facebook taking the account down!!!. That account has had been reported multiple times by closer friends and Facebook still did not take that account down with a scammer attached to it! Talk about fu**ed up. Since Facebook failed to provide true safety and security to our account that hacker was able to lie and pretend to be somebody else to gain access to my original account. Now I don't even know if my original account is active or has been deleted as I have reported my original account many times due to it being hacked and I don't want that scammer to scam any more of my friends and family. I have reported my original account to Facebook and Facebook still allowed it to stay active without it being the person who owned that account.
If Facebook was a true social media website they would upgrade their security, not to mention I had to make a new account and I was not forced to make security questions as my original account had security questions and I have had Facebook ask me for the answers to them before to double-check and make sure that it was originally me that was trying to get back into my account before.
Now since Facebook has not helped me hardly with this issue and continues to not help me with this issue to my knowledge it seems like Facebook itself has been hacked as well as my account. Facebook should have recognized the device that it was connected to but didn't Facebook should have sent me notification emails to me stating that things were changing in my account but did not, I had to report my Facebook account due to the scammer attached to it over 10 times before Facebook even did anything. Now on my new account I cannot tell if that scammer had blocked me or Facebook decided to take down my original account. If Facebook decided to finally take down my original account I don't understand how they cannot help me regain access to it.
I have also found out who the scammer was through another one of my friends, the scammer had two accounts to their name and I had reported both of them. Facebook only took down one and refuses to take down the other one as a scammer continues to collect other facebooks and link them up to his account, and Facebook the company is allowing this to happen. I am extremely pissed and upset and disappointed that after having an account with Facebook for over 15 years , that they are just going to sit back and allow this to happen. This is Deanna Thompson Sauter, I refuse to give up on regaining my original account as I have always only had one account. Well see if this makes it to the news, and with Facebook continuing to ignore me and refuse to help me regain my original account, putting this article on ktvz news channel in Central Oregon might just be the best decision. Because I am one pissed customer and want my belongings back.
I also have photo proof that my account was hacked, as when I created a new account because I was forced to I did message my old account asking for it back, the scammer then decided to try and scam me again and blackmail me for money this time... I have photo proof but for some reason the photos I'm trying to upload is not allowing me to on this complaint review. But through my new Facebook account I have also sent pictures a couple times already showing that there is a problem with Facebook.

First let me start with I am a VP of Engineering for a very large Internet services firm with over 25 yrs in the industry . One of the largest in fact ( not as large as Meta however we have 10s of ,millions of customers ) and I absolutely know how technology works such as multifactor with passkeys, hardware keys, and authenticator apps.

Aditonally I have a very good handle on payment technologies, PCI DSS regulations, and more.
So let me just say that... Facebook is a disaster for support .
If your account has been hacked the level of care and incompetence is mind-blowing.
I have been attempting to unlock / recover my account after that appears to be fraud. The attacker gained access via ?!? magic ?!?

and then enabled 2FA on the account, then setup Meta Pay with a credit card ( not mind and very likely stolen ), and then the attacker purchases Meta Verified with my hacked account so they can pretend to be me!
Again... Some attacker gains access via 'magic' , uses a stolen credit card denominated in GBP ( I am in the US ) , and then purchases Meta Verified with it, Meta was kind enough to send me a reciept of this happening.
If they were in fact able to set up Meta Verified that is rather concerning considering my position within the industry, the Internet scale services I have direct oversight over, and possible implications if people are fooled into believing that a 'meta verified' , yet hacked, account is myself.
How did I figure all of this out... My account was locked which I find odd as I almost never use Facebook ( if I do it's for the marketplace function ). It has been perhaps 6 months since I was active trying to use it and figured some bot tried to enter a password too many times from some strage IP address I have never sourced a login from so the account locked.
This is VERY typical behavior for anti-fraud tooling and anyone of scale on the Internet would do this amounst a number of other actions for the customer ( send a mail, SMS, phone call saying you have been locked down ) but not Meta it appears.
So I was able to start the account unlock via my email address, my phone number and WhatsApp at various times.

I am then greeted with a 2FA challenge asking for 6 digits. First warning sign... I NEVER SET UP A 2FA APP.
How it manifests; If I attempt to do an account recovery Facebook allows me to do so no problem. I upload my ID, or do a live facial recognition, and they allow me to reset my password.

However, it appears that an attacker enabled 2FA on the account so I can not get into it. So I am in a CONTINUAL RECOVERY LOOP!!!
Worse I start wondering what is going on since I hardly use my FB account anymore and do a search for Facebook, meta, and other terms associated with this company. Well it appears many months ago something very strange occurred. I find 2 emails from 11/3/2024 one from Meta Pay, like Google Pay but way way worse, with a company that has ZERO support.

I never in my life used this system and the last 4 digits of the card added is NOT MINE.
2 days later I received and email fromnotificaitons@***.com with a reciept for the purchase of Meta Verified being purchased for 9.99 GBP (British Pounds ) including tax. Meta Verified is used to vouch that you are a real person and to verify you they are supposed to do a live ID check from what I see.
That is IMPOSSIBLE since I never purchased this junk, provided ID ,and I am in the UNITED STATES and NOT in Great Britain ( receipt was in GBP ) so what kind of payment fraud verification are these folks using ?!?!
So I decided to attempt to contact Meta via every support channel available to the public however they all fail and there is no published Meta / Facebook support phone number. A quick query on our favorite search engine brings up a TON of similar complaints like this yet it continues.
Yes those are real contact points included above and 'Hey META you should contact me via those along with provide a protocol for me to verify that it is indeed an authorized representaitve of your organization' . I am not concerned they are there since all are already in the public domain and more.

My private contact info on the other hand well that is for me to know.
A normal person might never get this solved, and I might now as well. However, I am not a 'normal' person, like I said I am a VP of Engineering at another large tech firm, and intend to escalate this mess via a few resources that others do not have.
1) I have a number of colleagues of senior rank at Meta, some very close, that I intend to report this insanity to in the hope they can 'pull a secret lever' to get this fixed if needed.
2) I have pulled their NOC ( operations center ) info and have a number and email for that as well. They will more than likely not respond or pickup but that is OK as I will have the records for my attempts to contact.
3) Normal protocol for high value corporate emails accounts like zuckerberg@***.com, zuck@***.com,ceo@***.com, legal@***.com, risk@***.com, COO@,board@,BOD@,president@,abuse@,security@ and many more means more than likely they are going to be automatically sent through an automated workflow.
The workflow looks for malware, probably several AI / ML engines to mine it for content, the look up info about the sender, such as lif they have an account on one of meta's properties, who they are in the real world ( they certain know ), the senders associates, if any work for Meta, on any intelligence lists, etc.
The various workflow engines will build a virtual dossier on the sender and if it meets certain criteria if will get sent to a LIVE PERSON for review. Now I can not say this is how Meta does it however I know of similar across the industry and for certain email addresses they are ALWAYS monitored even if not puiblished.
This live person will quickly deduce that the sender is in fact a real person, and very likely the person whom they claim to be, they are righfully upset, hurt, and may seek legal recourse, etc...

in short Meta has a problem they need to fix. If they were to figure this out you will hopeful be on your wait to a solve for the problem.
Now if one email does nothing then I am fairly certain that if you send a bunch of email to these addresses something in the workflows will eventually trigger an escalation ( I certainly know it does at my organization ) . People with titles containing director, head of ..., VP, etc will get the reports even if it takes a bit.
I intend to go this route and outline in my communicaton the needed for action and that Meta potentially allowed fraud to occur through obvious and willful negligence and demonstrated a lack of care for the safety and privacy of it's platforms users.
Note; payment fraud could potentially facilitating inter-state wire fraud under the US constitution's commerce clause ( FTC ) since stolen credit cards and more were used to transact a fraudulent transaction in GBP in my name.
Just think about it... A hacker breaks thier secuirty, setups 2FA to keep the real user out, then uses a stolen credit card to purchase Meta Verified so they can impersonate the user.

In my case I am a high level figure in the technology industry with oversight over some rather choice Internet scale service. An AI or human would have taken about 5 seonds of looking at public resources such as Google to figure that out which would be enough to trigger internal procedures in many organizations.
Many tech firms tag and monitor the accounts of high profile users, VIPs in society, or others who are in senior positons at large tech firm, for signs of unusual activiity.
Eamples of unusual activity include, but not limited to, logging in from some IP never used before, or setting up Meta pay with a credit card that is not in the users name, or purchasing and attempting to enable Meta Verfied. After all for that to succeed would be very bad as they are supposed to verify you indeed are the person you say you are.
Not only the willful negligence, but the wanton disregard for safety and privacy is front and center in all of this. They provide no phone numbers for help / support to the public, chat, no email, nothing!!!

It is obvious Meta would rather not help you for thier conduct. That is negligent behavior and something they should be called to account over.
To get this fixed I may need to contact several data privacy & law enforcement authories in California, several other US state, along with the UKs Information Commissioner's Office ("ICO") as part of the DPA ( Data Protection Act ), the EU's European Data Protection Board (EDPB) with oversight for GDPR regulations ( I am a US citizen and a EU resident ) , and the US FTC since there are a number of potential consumer and inter-state commerce issues here.
On the legal front I will need to report this via public, and confidential means, to the FBIs National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF) along with along with the INTERPOL National Central Bureaus (NCBs) in the two member nations that I have either citizenship or residence in.
'Why am I willing to do all of this?' you might say.
1) A crime has occured and Meta has not provided any avenue to obtain assistance.
2) Commercial payment fraud that is interstate & international was facilitated via thier platform.
3) Identiy theft has occured which can be damaging to an individual, or worse a large groups, depending on how sucessful the crimial is in using that info.
4) Improvements to Meta's security & privacy solutions MUST improve. Just reviewing this without any inside information on thier technology leads me to several 'opertunities' where automation, people, etc should have move into action.
5) I have a duty to report this. Like I said I work for a large tech firm in a role with direct oversight of Internet scale systems.

Anyone pretending to be me could potentially do real damage if they were to fool individuals.
6) If I have to get to this point then I will lodge a civil complaint against Meta on a number of grounds and seek damages as this is simply wanton negligence which causes harm to real poeple. As evidenced by the number of people experiancing similar challenges I imagine there is an entire class of poeple who might want similar improvements to occur at meta and who were also damaged.
The fact that the Meta sercuirity was penetrated, and the account of a highly empowered figure at a well know public tech firm was taken over by an attacker, who then locks out the victim, uses likey stolen credit cards to setup Meta Pay, and then purchases Meta Verified with Meta Pay is alarming at a minimuim and very potentially negligent. Imagine the attacker using a Meta Verified ID to fool thier way into gaining access to technology services, or worse to fool a human into taken action on the attackers behalf.
Like what? Shut down a critical service, lock out others from core systems, shutdown a data center...

Things that would end up in the news and perhaps more.
I will insist Meta correct this via the avenues I have to contact them. They should either purge my account from thier systems so that all PII is removed after providing copies of the data or restore it to a state before the breach with enhanced controls, contact the relivant data protection and legal authorities, and determine the source of the breach so that it can be solved.
Failure for them to take action by ignore this issue or refusal to address it will result in the escalation to the relivant data protection and legal authorities, along with informing several industry regulators responsible for the payment cards industry ( PCI DSS ) since credit card fraud occured and the Certification Authority Browser Forum (CA/Browser Forum aka CAB) for potential WebTrust violations. The CAB has industry leverage over PKI infrastrucutre that is used for all public WWW traffic that needs to be encryted and the assurance that the source of the information is indeed the sending party. In this case Meta is used PKI technology was part of thier authentication and commerce tooling with certs issued by public Certificate Authorities.

If Meta will not, or can not correct and explain this issue, then I will certainly report this as there could be a crtical flaw in Meta's secuirty, or the chain of custody of PKI assets in thier remit, or worse yet a flaw in the global PKI infrastrucutre that I would want the industry to look into.
One might think that all of this crazy could have been avoided up to now along with the future escalations with just a bit of customer services and better internal secuirty controls. A phone number, a live chat, or even an email with a guarantee to get back to a customer... Anything is better than nothing.
Otherwise people who are not powerless like me will create thier own customer service pathways to get service and those can be a messy and unfortunate.
Me...

as they say I have 'first world problems' plenty of $$$, several homes in different nations, know how the industry works as I am inside the industry, and can contact a number of others who can certainly get the attention of the right folks.
The average person on the street on the other hand has no chance to have the right thing done for them it appears. Enough noise from things like this and things will change for the better.
Honestly I just want it fixed and for them to do a lot better for thier users.

On 3 December 2025, my personal Facebook account was blocked for allegedly breaching their cybersecurity policy. The block was put in place immediately after I posted a notice in a Facebook group I moderate about a meeting to organize a protest against some policies of the current New Zealand government.

I am unclear how this breached the cybersecurity policy. I submitted an appeal immediately on 3 December. FB says that appeals are normally considered one way or the other within one business day.

It has now been over a month, and I have not heard anything. I've no idea how I breached the policy, but it's immensely frustrating not having access to an account that (though personal) I use a lot for work.

I have been suspended from using Facebook for apparently violating community standards on an account that I never used. No idea what has happened, and it has been very, very difficult to contact any customer service to validate what the issue may be and also to find a course of action for resolution.

A repeated automated response of 'File an appeal for review,' which I have done multiple times, is just plain unacceptable customer service resolution.

I have no idea what this supposed violation may be, as well as when it transpired, and how to verify and resolve. Completely unacceptable; shows zero accountability or responsibility to your consumer base.

I have lost all of my testimony, pictures, and legacy without violating customer standards, without warning, and I can't get back into my account. Facebook continually changes its contract with users.

Live posts previously marked 'never delete' were deleted, and now one of my accounts has been disabled and I cannot retrieve it. It has photos and videos of my life with my son through our situation, which has been awful because of government intervention that we didn't need. I've documented it all on Facebook, and according to its whim, Meta can just wipe you off the map. There's no way to contact Facebook.

I am a real person with real memories that Facebook always seems to treat as fraudulent. I am so saddened and disappointed in my country and the social media behemoths that are unaccountable for the contract terms they violate endlessly.