Meta to use facial recognition to help Facebook and Instagram users recover hacked accounts
BOSTON - Meta is set to launch a new plan using facial recognition technology to prevent online scams at the start of next year.
"It's happening all across the internet," Daniel Roberts, a spokesperson for Meta told WBZ.
In September of this year, Ellen Bradley became a victim of an online scam when her Instagram and Facebook account got hacked.
"It had a picture of a man with my name under it," Bradley said. "A man that I had never seen."
According to Bradley, the hacker was using her account claiming to be selling tickets to a Minnesota Vikings football game. She claims to have reached out to Facebook for help.
"Told me to call police"
"I couldn't get any assistance," she said. "The last resort was when they told me to call the police."
Last Spring, JT Baker's Facebook page was also hacked. "I had no clue at first, I found out through family and friends texting me, 'Hey, we heard you moved to China,'" Baker said.
After multiple attempts to regain access to his account. Baker said he eventually gave up, "It started to just become too much work."
Selfie video for hacked accounts
In an attempt to assist users like Baker and Bradley, Meta says their new technology will allow people to upload a selfie video.
"Based on things like the shape of your nose and freckles, we'll compare those and see if there's a match," Roberts said.
If that video matches previous content posted on your page, Meta says users will then regain access to their hacked account.