Desperation: Facebook Users Buy $299 VR Headset Hoping to Finally Receive Account Support

According to recent reports, many Facebook users that have found their accounts hacked have been unable to receive any direct support from the social media giant. Some have even resorted to purchasing $299 VR headsets in a desperate attempt to get support in accessing their account.

NPR reports that many Facebook users have found their accounts hacked in recent months. Given the number of data leaks that have taken place in the past few years, this isn’t particularly surprising. Since identity theft and hacking are a common problem, many would assume that Facebook is well prepared to deal with such issues — but according to many users, this is not the case.

Facebook instructs users that have had their Facebook accounts compromised to report the issue via the company’s dedicated web page, where they’re instructed to upload photo ID and prove their identities to regain access to their account. But many users claim that they had multiple issues with Facebooks’ reporting process and often received no response from the company even after submitting the report form multiple times.

One user that had her account hacked, Jessie Marsala, told NPR in July about her experience with Facebook’s reporting process. “Facebook didn’t have a phone number to call. There was no email to email,” said Marsala, adding: “I sent these forms in morning, noon and night multiple times a day. Nobody got back to me, not once.”

Some users on Reddit found that by submitting their photo ID through Facebook’s system with everything but their name and photo covered up in some way — often by a Post-it note — Facebook’s system was better able to recognize the ID.

Facebook has warned that due to the coronavirus pandemic it has fewer people available to review IDs, and although it does use artificial intelligence to scan passports and driver’s licenses, the company’s help center states that reviews “may take longer than usual.”

Some users discovered a more reliable way to guarantee a response from Facebook — the purchase of an Oculus Quest 2 VR headset manufactured by Mark Zuckerberg’s company. One user, Brandon Sherman of Nevada City, stated that he saw the tip on Reddit and eventually purchased the $299 VR headset in a last-ditch attempt to regain access to his Facebook account.

After receiving his new VR headset, Sherman contacted Facebook’s Oculus division and provided them with the headset’s serial number. Almost instantly, Sherman heard back from the company about his account and was able to rectify the situation. Sherman plans to return his unopened Oculus Quest 2. “The only way you can get any customer service is if you prove that you’ve actually purchased something from them,” he said.

Read more at NPR here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com