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How to Delete an Old Facebook Account When You Can't Log In

by on July 17, 2018
in Tips & How-Tos, Facebook, Privacy :: 436 comments

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Do you have an old Facebook account that you’re no longer using with posts or pictures from your younger days that you don’t want people to see? It’s easy to delete your account if you still have access to it. But what if you can’t remember the login information?

Here are the two steps you can take to try and recover account access so you can delete your account – and the associated unwanted former memories – permanently.

1. Try to recover your Facebook password

Go to https://www.facebook.com/login/identify to search for your account. You can search by the email or phone number you used to set up the account, or just by name (the search screen doesn’t mention that option but it works, too).

If you go the name route, your account may or may not show up, depending on your privacy settings. If you don’t see it, click “I’m not on this list” and you’ll be prompted to enter the name of a friend and search again.

Once you find your old account, you’ll be able to send a reset code to any of the email addresses or phone numbers you associated with your account. If you’re not sure which email address you used, Facebook will show you a redacted version (e.g., j*******h@hotmail.com) that should spark your memory in case it’s an old email that you don’t log into anymore.

If you don’t have access to that email address or phone number anymore, try hard to regain access to that old email account. Because it gets far bleaker from here…

2. Use Facebook’s Trusted Friends feature

If you can’t access the email address or phone number on your account, your only other hope is Facebook’s Trusted Friends feature. Launched in 2013, Trusted Friends lets you regain access to your account in case of forgotten credentials by asking three “trusted friends” to supply a reset code. The big problem with Trusted Friends is that you had to have set it up in advance for your account, which very few people have done, according to a quick check I did of my friends and other random accounts.

(To set it up for an account you still have access to: 1. Go to Settings (down arrow). 2. Go to your Security and Login Settings. 3. Scroll down to Choose 3 to 5 friends to contact if you get locked out and click Edit. 43. Click Choose friends and follow the on-screen instructions.)

Facebook lockout contacts

If you fall into the category of one of the lucky few who set this up, when you tell Facebook that you “No longer have access to these?” on the email and phone recovery page you’ll be provided with an option to enter a new email or phone number and continue with the process.

Click “Reveal My Trusted Contacts” and type the full name of one of your trusted contacts. Facebook will then give you a special URL that each of your three friends need to access. The URL contains a recovery code to reset your account, which your friends need to provide back to you. You will need to contact your friends and provide them the URL – Facebook will not do this for you. If you can’t contact one of your trusted friends for whatever reason, you’re out of luck.

As I mentioned above, if you didn’t already set up Trusted Contacts, it’s too late now. When you tell Facebook you can’t access the email account, you won’t have the option to provide a new email address or phone number, you’ll just be told to try logging in again (in other words, you’re outta luck).

3. Report your old account as fake

While Facebook makes deleting an old account difficult, thanks to the proliferation of Facebook account spoofing, deleting a fake account is far easier. So one of our clever readers told us in the comments he reported his old account as fake and it was quickly deleted. Another reader also had success going this route.

To report your old account as fake:

  1. Go to the profile of your old account
  2. Click the three little dots on the bottom right of the cover photo and select "Give feedback or report this profile"
  3. Click on "Pretending to Be Someone" and then click "Me"

Let us know in the comments if this method works for you, too.

4. There is no option four (at least no easy one)

I reached out to Facebook and they have confirmed that, for security reasons, they will only allow you to delete your account if you can access it through one of the two official methods above (or our "unofficial" workaround). Those photos of your ex-relationships, nights of drunken bacchanalia and really, really bad choices of hairstyle are going to live on forever in the Facebook universe.

However, you may be able to pursue avenues outside Facebook’s standard deletion policies. For example, if you reside in the EU, the GDPR provides the right for consumers to demand companies delete their personal information on request. And if Facebook isn’t responding to a request, you may be able to take the issue up with your country’s privacy officer.

According to Facebook’s Privacy Policy, disputes can be resolved through a third-party company called TrustArc. However, at the time of publishing this article, Facebook is blocking its own link to the TrustArc feedback form as malicious (irony noted). Instead, you can use Facebook’s Data Policy Help Center Contact form or send a snail mail letter to:

Facebook, Inc.
ATTN: Privacy Operations
1601 Willow Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Since these aren't officially sanctioned means of getting your account deleted, we don't know what your likelihood of success will be. If you go this route, let us know how you fare in the comments below.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Please do not put requests to have your Facebook account deleted in the comments. We cannot delete your account  you must follow the steps with Facebook we outlined above.

 

[Image credit: Facebook login via BigStockPhoto]


Discussion loading

The 3th method works.

From Arpine Darbinyan on July 10, 2019 :: 2:25 am

Thank you for your supporting. I just want to say that your 3th method really works. Thank you very much.

Reply

Thanks for letting us know

From Josh Kirschner on July 10, 2019 :: 10:39 am

That’s definitely an “unofficial” method for deleting your Facebook account, so glad to hear it’s working.

Reply

I want my face book account which one generated in 6 july 19 pl. This my original account

From ANIL KUMAR on July 14, 2019 :: 11:47 pm

I tried many time but I not found my 6 july 19 account which generated by me Anil
Kumar

Reply

Can't log in

From Komal on July 29, 2019 :: 8:04 pm

I can’t login in my facebook account plus I forgot my yahoo password where the recovery code is sent to….please advise me what I can do

Reply

Recover your Yahoo password

From Josh Kirschner on July 30, 2019 :: 4:26 pm

Have you tried recovering your Yahoo password? That’s your best bet.

Reply

Isha namuli

From Lovely Janny on August 03, 2019 :: 5:50 pm

Isha namuli

Reply

My Personal Fb account has benn disabled.

From আবির অভ্র on August 17, 2019 :: 8:26 pm

Hello,Sir My name is Abir And My fb Account name is Abir ovro.I am from Bangladesh.In Bangladesh, Government Don’t Give National Nid Card UNTILL A Man become 18+. I am 17 Running.  I haven’t Nid card. but My personal Fb account has been disabled.This Is my Real account and my Personal Fb account. Please,Forgive me and reopen my account.
My Personal Fb account Link :    https://www.facebook.com/ovroabir91

Reply

My old account

From Amaja on August 20, 2019 :: 6:48 pm

Evening please, I have old accounts I really want to delete I have tried all the options given on this platform but I can’t even delete them because I use same number to open the current account and I can’t even remember the email and password correctly.pls help me

Reply

My account is open bt I m not remember password or email id

From Priya dey on August 31, 2019 :: 5:21 pm

My account is open bt I m not remember for password and email id

Reply

Delete all my unintended Facebook

From Jane Byrne on September 08, 2019 :: 4:14 am

Delete all my unintended Facebook accounts and only have 1 Which I’ll set up once I’ve got a clean slate

Reply

Please

From Purity lyn on September 15, 2019 :: 9:33 pm

Please i have 3 account in Facebook please help me delete two purity lyn and purity wairimu i had an accident i can’t remember password

Reply

I want to delete my

From Suman shil sharma on September 16, 2019 :: 10:49 pm

I want to delete my old facebook account… Please help me

Reply

Land of confusion

From Megan Aldine on October 08, 2019 :: 2:19 pm

None of them really work anymore. Since the big hack FB has gotten devoted to this and unfortunately reckless. On the plus side if they log you out for security reasons your account will be deleted anyways if you can’t contact them and tell them to halt, which you wouldn’t if you intended to delete it. None of them work though because Facebook doesn’t actually delete anything. It’s called ghosting as opposed to bleaching. All your data is still there, you just can’t see it. And still in FB’s personal database and still shared as they see fit. As a general rule once you write something down it’s always there, same applies to the internet. A damned if you do or don’t situation. My hopes is the many services that require a FB account to use will reconsider that.

Reply

Deleted old account

From Teresa Dedman on October 20, 2019 :: 9:16 am

Hi.

My old account was deleted quickly when I reported it as a fake account.

Many thanks

Teresa

Reply

How did u do it

From Jojo on December 05, 2019 :: 2:23 am

Can you help me out please

Reply

deleting an account

From Fmb Rocilem on October 28, 2019 :: 6:35 am

my father made an account in facebook but already forgot his details account name and password and the phone no. used was already not active. someone made uncontrollable abusive and hatred post comments which we cant delete as no access on that account. i want to know how to delete the account.

Reply

Read the article

From Josh Kirschner on October 29, 2019 :: 4:09 pm

If you don’t have access to the email or phone used to create the Facebook account (he can’t access his email, either?), then follow steps 3 or 4.

Reply

Remove past face book profiles

From Ann Anderson on November 04, 2019 :: 1:33 pm

How do i remove my old profile from face book as there are about four i don’t want them to get in to the wrong hands.  Please advise me thank you.

Reply

Read our other article

From Josh Kirschner on November 04, 2019 :: 1:40 pm

We have another article that gives you step-by-step instructions for how to delete your Facebook account.

Reply

need to gain back my facebook

From Paul on November 05, 2019 :: 11:49 am

Hi
i really dont know what to do i have a 15 year old account and am trying to get access to it .what i did was when i tried to setup 2FaApps in my fb i never actually set it up i just chose 2fa app over txt now when i go to log in it says we sent you a 6 digit number i cant check it i dont receive the code to mobil because it wasnt setup.so i tried to send fb a few requests with my new email so they can contact me on because the email that they contact me on which i had when i joined fb many years ago is no more active.
So i contacted microsoft about my email the said that its been disabled because its not been active for many many years. So i dont know what to do az this account is still active i cant make a new one unless either i get this account back or i have fb delete it altogether which i have no idea how im going to do that either can you please give me steps or links vital information to help me   out.

Kind regards paul

Reply

Did you follow the steps above?

From Josh Kirschner on November 06, 2019 :: 9:11 pm

I give advice above for deleting your account when you can’t log in - start by following those (step 3 is probably what you need). Not clear on why you can’t create a new account, though. If you’re using a different email address to create the new account, there shouldn’t be an issue.

Reply

Someone else using my old account

From Mah Bhel T Ybales on November 10, 2019 :: 1:11 am

Hello sir!

How can I delete my old account named “Shemabz d Bhezt” because someone else using my old account!
Thanks!

Reply

I want to delete my

From Gursewak batth on November 29, 2019 :: 6:50 pm

I want to delete my old account which is locked

Reply

Please help me delete my

From Irene Davis on December 22, 2019 :: 5:23 am

Please help me delete my old email accounts

Reply

We did help you

From Josh Kirschner on December 23, 2019 :: 5:27 pm

Read the article. Follow the advice.

Reply

i reported old facebook and it worked

From Jonathan Robert Vosburgh on January 04, 2020 :: 1:45 pm

click the three dots under ther cover photo on bottom right and then go to report and report for pretending to be someone then put me and in five min the profile will be gone I just got rid of 4 old profiles

Reply

My phone number link by mistake to relative new disabled account

From Siko on January 13, 2020 :: 3:23 pm

I want my phone number be removed or unlinked from my relitve disabled account how to delete my phone number from disabled account please help Mr

Reply

Old facebook Id

From Imalka on January 18, 2020 :: 3:16 pm

Hi sir- i want to delete my facebook account. But now i didn’t use this account and i can not log. How can i delete this?

Reply

Thank u soooooooooo much

From Srinivas on January 19, 2020 :: 6:58 am

This idea of marking as fake or something else was really amazing. I had three more accounts in which I forgot login details. But all those were deleted within few minutes or maximum half an hour

Thank u soooooooooo much

Reply

thank so you much for this article

From hannah on January 19, 2020 :: 4:46 pm

wow my old account was deleted in minutes. i reported it as pretending to be me. i posted some dumb stuff years ago… haha finally dont have to have it hanging over my head.

Reply

Successfully deleted old Facebook account

From Wendy on January 22, 2020 :: 3:04 am

I’ve been trying to delete my old fb account for years now having forgotten my password and email. Finally was able to do so by reporting it as fake like the instructions said above. It was deleted within days. Thanks!

Reply

Account

From Syntia on February 02, 2020 :: 2:48 pm

I have an old Facebook account that I want to delete, but I mad it in high school, so I don’t remember anything. Can you please help me delete it.

Reply

Report

From Shiela Ballester Loria on February 16, 2020 :: 6:51 am

I was a victim of online shaming. So I deactivated my personal account to protect my privacy. But I would like FB to delete the account of my daughter since I no longer have access to it. Somebody under a dummy account kept on stalking her account and post comments which I think is not appropriate. I don’t want other people to harass me through my daighter’s account. So I am asking FB to delete my daughter’s account. We have reported it already as her fake account.

Reply

My FB account was hacked

From Cornelious Smith on March 03, 2020 :: 8:37 am

I would like FB to delete all accounts associated with my phone #

Reply

Delete old account

From Mayur Erande on March 29, 2020 :: 12:32 am

I have an account whose password and email i forgot now i want to delete this account how can i do this ??
Please give me a suggation

Reply

Read the article

From Josh Kirschner on March 29, 2020 :: 11:37 am

This entire article is about how to do that. Did you read it and follow the steps before commenting here?

Reply

Close out old accounts

From Eddie Schmittler on March 30, 2020 :: 11:26 pm

Close out old accounts

Reply

Deleting Facebook Account

From Prakash Ryangrai on April 02, 2020 :: 12:52 am

how to delete old facebook account without password or email…. Please delete this account soon

Reply

I can't use it this

From Hannah Leigh on April 06, 2020 :: 11:21 pm

I can’t use it this my account now and I forgot my password

Reply

FORGOT MY PASSWORD OF OLD ACCOUNT MORE THAN 6 YEARS AGO

From Kelly on April 11, 2020 :: 5:33 am

Hi! So i have an old account maybe more than 6 years ago. I remember logging it to that account before and the password was incorrect. After many years, i tried logging it again but still the password is incorrect. I have no access on phone number, email, or any devices that i logged in using that account. Now, I want to just access it again before deleting it. But if i REALLY can’t open it anymore, i just want to delete that account. Can you please help me how?

And what will happen if an account gets deleted? Is it really deleted already or “authorities” (idk) still has a control of it?

THANKS SO MUCH’

Reply

Follow the steps above

From Josh Kirschner on April 13, 2020 :: 6:03 pm

If you can’t login to your old email account and don’t have the phone number, the you’re pretty much out of luck for logging in. But you can still delete the account by reporting it as fake, as many people have had success doing.

Once the account is removed as fake, I do’t know whether Facebook permanently deletes it or it goes to a “inactive” state. But it shouldn’t really matter - it will be gone from public view, either way. Not sure what “authorities” you’re concerned about or why it would matter.

Reply

If I can't have access to my old 2 Facebook then I want to delete them

From Omolara on April 23, 2020 :: 7:30 am

I want to delete the account if I can’t have access to them.i don’t remember the password and the email for both the account.

Reply

9 year old email account

From rita presti natoli on October 09, 2020 :: 8:47 am

9 year old email account not right want to delete it

Reply

Facebook account won't finish creating

From Kim Swafford on April 29, 2020 :: 9:39 pm

I tried to create a facebook and it will not let me finish creating the account.  It is stuck on this page below and I cannot opt out or add a photo.  What do I need to do? 

Upload Your ID


To help us check that this account belongs to you, we need a photo of your official ID. This could be a driving licence, passport or other type of official identification. If there are any issues, we’ll send you an email.
When you submit a copy of your ID, we’ll keep it for more than 30 days, but no more than 1 year, unless you opt out. This helps us improve our automated systems for detecting fake IDs and related abuse. Your ID will not be visible on Facebook. Learn More.

 


Choose Photo

 

Continue

 

What IDs does Facebook accept?

Reply

Upload one of these types of ID

From Josh Kirschner on April 30, 2020 :: 11:11 am

Facebook has been increasing their security in response to many issues with scams and fake accounts being used to disseminate false information (e.g., Russian sock puppets). To help combat this, Facebook may ask people for ID if something flags as suspicious. It could be your name is very common or the same as a celebrity, or the country or IP address you’re using has a history of suspicious activity.

In any regard, these are the types of ID Facebook will accept to set up a new account or reclaim one to which you’ve lost access (you can read more on this Facebook Help page: https://www.facebook.com/help/159096464162185):

Group One
You can send Facebook one of the items from group one to confirm your name or get back into your account. Anything that you send Facebook should contain either your name and date of birth or your name and photo.
Birth certificate
Driver’s license
Passport
Marriage certificate
Official name change paperwork
Personal or vehicle insurance card
Non-driver’s government ID (ex: disability, SNAP card, national ID card, pension card)
Green card, residence permit or immigration papers
Tribal identification or status card
Voter ID card
Family certificate
Visa
National age card
Immigration registration card
Tax identification card

Group Two
If you don’t have anything from group one, you can send Facebook two different items from group two. Anything you send must include your name and at least one of the two documents should contain your date-of-birth and/or photo. The name on the items that you send should be the same name that you want to show on your profile.

If you’ve lost access to your account, you may be asked to provide something from the list that also shows a photo or date of birth that matches the details on your Facebook account.
Bank statement
Transit card
Check
Credit card
Employment verification
Library card
Mail
Magazine subscription stub
Medical record
Membership ID (ex: pension card, union membership, work ID, professional ID)
Paycheck stub
Permit
School ID card
School record
Social Security card
Utility bill
Yearbook photo (actual scan or photograph of the page in your yearbook)
Company loyalty card
Contract
Family registry
Diploma
Religious documents
Certificate of registration for accreditation or professional
Professional license card
Polling card
Health insurance
Address proof card
Social welfare card

Reply

Fake account

From Ken Jeffery on May 08, 2020 :: 4:51 pm

The only accounted I have is 07591499357

Reply

Reply

From Christian Wayne Klinge on May 09, 2020 :: 8:55 pm

Or you could report it as hacked and Facebook will confirm your identity and help log you back in

Reply

Someone has taken over my account

From Felix Masamaka on May 12, 2020 :: 4:52 pm

Just recently I haven’t been able to check my Facebook account again, when I opened it different name popped up to replace my name on my account with all my information intact because I did two verification when I tried to open the account again they asked for code and they sent it through both my number and the person number I find it difficult to open again and now Facebook is demanding a photo of my ID card it’s look very suspicious so I could not send it , I tried several times to open new account with my same phone number but they still demand same things. Please any help

Reply

3 years old Facebook re open pls bay mistk delete

From Ramesh Nadoda on May 21, 2020 :: 1:43 am

Ramesh nadoda Mumbai Maharashtra delete Facebook data recovery pls

Reply

Somebody took over my account and chnaged the password

From pao on May 25, 2020 :: 5:00 am

Hi sir, I want to permanently delete my fb account but i think someone changed my password, and i cannot access also my email. What to do sir? Thank you.

Reply

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