Confused about Facebook giving access to another user...

April 18, 2023 7:24 AM

I haven't used Facebook for many years, but I wanted something on Marketplace that a friend sent me a link to. I signed up for a new account using my long-time phone number. It texted me a code to use. I used it. And found myself logged into some Chinese person's account with friends and a feed and everything. I logged out, created a new account with the same number, and now I seem to have a fresh new account and still have access to the Chinese account. What's going on here?

And how do I fix it?

Was this person somehow using my phone number on their FB account?

posted by dobbs to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Yeah, they probably were using your number. I've had that happen before. I presume it's because China bans Facebook at the Great Firewall, so people there who want to use it find ways to bypass the ban, with VPNs and such, and probably need to use a non-chinese phone number to create an account. You can close the existing Chinese account yourself, and they'll basically have no way of recovering it.
posted by mrgoat at 7:40 AM on April 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

AFAICT, all that happened here is that you walked into someone else’s FB account by mistake. So, you back away slowly & forget that it happened. Nothing else to fix.
posted by Puppy McSock at 8:44 AM on April 18, 2023

Response by poster: Well the concern for me here is not from a personal ID issue, but, as far as I can tell, I have now changed this person's password. I did this unknowingly, thinking I was providing a password for a new account.

Since FB texted me the recovery code there's obviously no way that it had previously been texting him (as it would have come to me), so he must have some other system of recovery (presumably email).

And since FB shows me two user accounts that I can switch between, does that mean he will see mine when he logs in with email?

I've been communicating with people about buying things on marketplace and am concerned he can jump in there or lock me out entirely, which will look to them like I've ghosted them.

I have no interest in giving FB my email address so this phone number is my only way of accessing.

Is there a way for me to unjoin these two accounts and ensure he doesn't again use my phone number for his account once they're unjoined?
posted by dobbs at 8:53 AM on April 18, 2023

Response by poster: I have had this phone number since before FB existed, btw.
posted by dobbs at 9:06 AM on April 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

It is pretty weird for someone to have been able to use a phone number they didn't have access to - doesn't FB verify numbers?

I have no interest in giving FB my email address so this phone number is my only way of accessing.

One option is to set up a throwaway email account that forwards to your real one.
posted by trig at 9:47 AM on April 18, 2023 [1 favorite]