It’s something you see happening to others and you pray you don’t have to see the light of the day when your account gets compromised. But when it happens to you, you realize first hand, what a pain in the behind the whole ordeal is. It’s like losing a part of yourself-your extension… My Facebook account got hacked and left me feeling sad and down in the dumps, so much so that I was close to tears.
My mind worked overtime. It started with the regular... What did I do to deserve this? Is this what we call “Facebook Karma”? Did I stalk that guy I like, too much? Did my status quotes hurt someone? Did my, over 700 photos, have others not looking as nice as I did? Did my comment on someone’s photo hurt their feelings? Did I spend too many hours on the site? Have I totally lost it thinking about it like I accidentally ran someone over with my car?
When I found out my Facebook account was hacked I couldn’t sit, stand or think! Minutes later my cousin called to ask if I was drunk. No hello, no hi… “Amrita, are you drunk?” Clearly the hacker was chatting with her through my account. He asked my cousin to refill his mobile with a recharge coupon. When she realised there was no way I’d talk to her like that she thought I was probably sloshed and acting accordingly! The guy made my cousin question my integrity for God’s sake! My account hadn’t just been compromised by him; he was instrumental in compromising my character too! This is beyond acceptable!
He picked the day to hack my profile also after possible consideration as I was to go for a night stay at a friends place. When I called her to deliver the bad news she seemed rather confused- “Amu I’ve been chatting with you for so long… why are you asking me such weird question?” was her response.
“My account is hacked ya… what are you chatting with this person about?” I asked slightly freaked out! Later in the day I found out that he asked her some pretty obnoxious questions, which she answered thinking it was regular “girl talk”. As scary and bizarre the whole episode was, we couldn’t help but laugh at the whole thing the entire night.
That’s what I was doing at the end of it after all. I got dressed and decided to go for the night stay in stead of sitting at home worrying about all the things that could go wrong. The one other thing that played on my mind was how I had an opportunity to write yet another article that is straight from my blunders manuscript! (I once wrote an article about how I didn’t think being mature was as much fun as growing up after a man left a rude note for me and my group suggesting us to join a finishing school.)
About the hacking… I felt useless! I couldn’t think of anything I could do to get my precious Facebook account with over 300 friends back. I woke up and slept with Facebook as a sort of alarm for me. An internship related to Facebook gave me yet another reason to romance my home page replete with news feed. Also, my prospects of looking at the profile of the guy I liked were taken away from me. My articles, which had some really honest, encouraging and gratifying comments, were forever lost to me. All because of a guy, who was too much of a chicken to make his own profile, add his own friends and send requests to girls he wanted to chat with, from his own name.
I tried the Facebook help page but it is too confusing and the process takes days. Someone suggested filling an FIR but people lose their Mercedes this country and don’t get them back; my Facebook account would never seem a priority. In any case, news about my account being usurped will spread and more people will find out I no longer have control over it! A new account, starting afresh seems like the only way out… it’s disheartening, I know.
Anyone attached to their Facebook account will understand my plight. It’s not that big of a deal but I had been using the same account for over five years and now I have to detach myself from it. Facebook not only adds to our precious memories, it also helps store a lot of them. To all those out there who know the intricacies of hacking, please don’t steal someone’s right to memories. To the person who hacked my account - May God be with you. As for me, I learned a valuable lesson and have an experience of a lifetime. That’s about all I want to say.
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