Facebook users repeatedly warn about alleged “hackers” who have cracked their profiles. What they don't know, however, is that in the rarest of cases an account has actually been hacked. These are usually other methods that fraudsters use to gain access to existing accounts on Facebook.
The Federal Office for Information Security has used a (fictitious) case study on identity theft to explain how this fraud works and what needs to be done. A story explains using the example of Oliver, 34:
The smartphone is his sanctuary, but IT security is not.
“Olli, what kind of crap are you writing on the internet??!?!?”
The message from my friend Eva that pops up on my smartphone takes me aback. On the Internet? I haven't actively published anything there for about half a year. “What do you mean?” I answer Eva shortly afterwards, surprised. I navigate to the app to take a closer look.
I discover dozens of private messages and comments in my online profile. The reason for this chaos: Apparently two hours ago I uploaded a video showing animal cruelty from a dog of the worst kind. As I scan through the wild insults, I get a bad feeling: someone stranger must have hacked my profile. The now 25 reactions partly correspond to my own opinion about the horrific video, others are simply bottomless. My stomach turns. “How does the video get in there?” is what goes through my head. It's clear to me that it wasn't me, but who then and, above all, how and why? I'm deleting the video and comments. “But the internet never forgets,” I hear myself saying. Someone must have illegally gained access to my social media account and posted this video with my identity. What do I do now?
Reaction to “stolen” social media profiles:
- The most important thing: react as quickly as possible!
- Change the login details for the affected social media profile.
- Also change the password for the email account that is stored in the profile.
- Inform friends about the identity theft via message or, ideally, in person.
- Report the incident to the police at polizei-beratung.de .
How do cyber criminals get my user data?
- There are different possibilities. In Oliver's case, the following is conceivable:
- rarely uses the social media app hasn't set up update updates . The criminals use this to read your data.
- Since his smartphone does not require access authorization, an unauthorized person could secretly access it and take over the account.
- Oliver recently received a fake email from the social media provider and logged in through it. His access data was skimmed.
- Oliver uses the same password for all social media accounts, so all profiles are affected
via BSI for citizens
If you enjoyed this post and value the importance of well-founded information, become part of the exclusive Mimikama Club! Support our work and help us promote awareness and combat misinformation. As a club member you receive:
📬 Special Weekly Newsletter: Get exclusive content straight to your inbox.
🎥 Exclusive video* “Fact Checker Basic Course”: Learn from Andre Wolf how to recognize and combat misinformation.
📅 Early access to in-depth articles and fact checks: always be one step ahead.
📄 Bonus articles, just for you: Discover content you won't find anywhere else.
📝 Participation in webinars and workshops : Join us live or watch the recordings.
✔️ Quality exchange: Discuss safely in our comment function without trolls and bots.
Join us and become part of a community that stands for truth and clarity. Together we can make the world a little better!
* In this special course, Andre Wolf will teach you how to recognize and effectively combat misinformation. After completing the video, you have the opportunity to join our research team and actively participate in the education - an opportunity that is exclusively reserved for our club members!
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

