OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – An Oakland County bakery owner says a hacked Facebook account has locked her out of her business page, cutting into both revenue and customer traffic.
Michelle Neal, who owns Never Forgotten Bakery (formerly Sunflower Bake House), spent three years building the shop’s Facebook presence to promote daily specials, charity fundraisers, and other small businesses.
The page had about 2,100 followers.
Neal said her personal Facebook account was hacked on Valentine’s Day, possibly after connecting to Wi-Fi while her daughter was in the hospital.
She said the hackers then removed her as an administrator of the Never Forgotten Bakery page and replaced her with someone else.
“They first locked me out of my account and then accessed my business page,” said Neal.
Neal said she contacted Facebook and provided documents showing she owns the business and the page. Still, she remains locked out.
“None of that was enough to get around some policies and procedures they have been given to handle these types of things,” Neal said.
Without access, Neal said the bakery has missed opportunities to promote key early-year events, including Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day.
“We’ve missed out on a lot of key first part of the year events, where we weren’t really able to advertise and market,” Neal said.
Neal said foot traffic is down about 30% since she lost access.
She also said small businesses that get social media attention often see better results.
A spokesperson for Facebook’s parent company told me the issue is being investigated and that the company is looking into whether more can be done to restore Neal’s access.
Neal said she also wants other business owners to protect themselves by using Facebook’s Business Portfolio tool, which she learned about after the hack.
She said it can make pages easier to manage and less vulnerable to attackers.