As a city council person it’s Priscilla Ayres-Reiss’ job to protect and fight for the citizens of Southgate. She had no idea she would become a victim and need someone to fight for her when her Facebook account got stolen.
“One of my friends reached out to me and said, hey, what’s up with the new picture? And so when I went and looked, it was Julie Plum’s picture that was on there. And I’m like, I don’t know what’s happening here, but this is still my page,” Priscilla said.
If you find yourself suddenly Facebook friends with someone you’ve never seen before -- then what happened to your real friend might be what happened to Priscilla.
Her Facebook page was hacked. The hacker deleted her pictures, changed her name to “Julie Plum” and started making new posts as this new person.
It wasn’t just a Facebook page that was stolen. It was years of memories, and connections with friends and family.
“I lost a lot of connections because I had that page for a good seven years or so. So I built a lot relationships and networks within that page,” Priscilla said.
Ryan Meray with C!Tech Solutions has worked on a lot of cases like this and tried to help Priscilla. He said the biggest problems users usually face is Facebook itself -- and the lack of actual human support.
“All it would have taken was a human looking at the metadata on the account. Oh yeah, that’s the email address that was there for 10 years and not this new one that was put there in Indonesia,” Meray said.
He couldn’t help Priscilla, but he has some advice for the rest of us. The best thing you can do before you get hacked is to not use your main email address. On top of that, use two-factor authentication -- and don’t use your phone number. Use an authenticator app.
“If you do those two things, it’s going to make your account basically bulletproof, short of you getting socially engineered into giving up the authentication stuff to a hacker,” Meray said.
Priscilla didn’t get her Facebook account back. She had to create a new account and start from scratch to rebuild those connections.
The hacked Facebook page still exists, but the hacker Priscilla says stole it hasn’t made any public posts since 2023.
Both Ryan and Priscilla told Local 4 that they want big tech to do more to protect their users.
We reached out to Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, asking the following questions:
- Why didn’t Priscilla ever get her account back?
- Does Meta know why this happens?
- What procedures are in place to prevent account theft?
Meta did not respond to our requests for comment.
Tips for protecting yourself from hackers
- Expert recommends using an email that is not your main email address when making social media accounts.
- Don’t use your cell phone number. Use an authenticator app for two-factor authentication.
Meray said he runs into a case of account theft, loss, identity theft, or fraud at least once every couple of months. It’s not a service he advertises, so it’s usually something he sees happen to existing clients or friends and family.
“The amount of information I need and access with the affected party to work on these cases is not something folks should trust to someone they have just met,” he said.
Meray said the absolute best thing people can do is to not use their main email address as the email on their account.
“If the email address you’re using is one that nobody has, it’s really hard to initiate password recovery and, you know, hack attempts on it because they don’t know what the email address is,” he said.
Meray also said people should be using two-factor authentication, but not with their cell phone numbers. Use an authenticator app.
“If you do those two things, it’s going to make your account basically bulletproof, short of you getting socially engineered into giving up the authentication stuff to a hacker,” he said.
Signs you’ve been hacked
You should be able to recognize the signs that you’ve been hacked or that someone is trying to hack you.
Some of those signs include:
- Your profile picture changing without your permission.
- Your password or phone number has been changed without your permission.
- Your account username has been changed without your permission.
- Your posts have been deleted or changed without your permission.
- Messages from your account are being sent but you didn’t send them.
How to recognize an imposter or hacked account
According to Meray, if an account has been hacked you’ll see things that are out of character. Watch out for people trying to sell things for cash very quickly, or promote products that you wouldn’t expect them to.
If you get a message from a friend asking you to click a link or send them a code -- that’s a red flag.
Meray recommended that if you think a friend’s account has been hacked to contact them via some other means -- not directly through the hacked social media page.
What to do if you’re hacked
- If you still have access to your account you should immediately change your password and remove unwanted or suspicious devices.
- After that, the next step is to report it.