A reader is concerned about some messages targeting his friends.
“I recently received a call and several posts from Facebook friends saying they received a Facebook Messenger message from me that they know I would not send. (I didn’t). I changed my Facebook password but I would like to delete Facebook Messenger…I don’t need it and object to my friends receiving messages claiming to be from me but aren’t. I cannot find a way to delete it.
It is not listed in my desktop as an app or in the uninstall list of programs. I access it through Facebook which is located in the favorites bar across the top portion of screen.”
Facebook Messenger isn’t a separate program on your PC. It’s just a function that you can choose to use or not use when you use Facebook in a browser. You can’t delete it, because it’s not installed on your PC. It all likelihood, the message didn’t even come from you. Your account probably hasn’t been hacked. It’s been what’s called cloned. Someone has just opened an account using your name and possibly an image from you that they’ve stolen from online. Then they target friends with fake messages and fake friend requests.
To find out if the message was actually sent from your account, click the message icon left of your browser.
If any messages have actually been exchanged with your friends, you’ll see them there.
If you don’t see the exact messages your friends received, it didn’t come from your account. If you do see the messages, changing your password will prevent further access to your account.
Your friends should report these suspicious messages to Facebook so Facebook can shut these creeps down.