Geoff Edwards considered himself a sophisticated internet user, but now he considers himself a cautionary tale.
Hackers, he乌鸦传媒檚 recently discovered, are capable of fooling anyone. He learned that lesson the hard way when he lost his Facebook account, and now he乌鸦传媒檚 warning others.
It can happen to you too.
乌鸦传媒淣one of us realize what shaky ground we stand on with this platform,乌鸦传媒� Edwards said. 乌鸦传媒淪omebody can send you an email and you can make one wrong move and your whole Facebook world comes crashing down.乌鸦传媒�
For Edwards, who乌鸦传媒檚 been on Facebook since 2009, the nightmare started May 28, 2022.
He woke up to a notification email, telling him someone had accessed his Facebook account at 3:46 a.m. that morning, using a different device than his tablet. The email asked him to verify that it was him.
It looked totally legit, so Edwards clicked through all the procedures to prove his identity and secure his account.
乌鸦传媒淭hey send a code to your phone, you enter that code at the website and you乌鸦传媒檙e back on Facebook again,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淚 carried on with my day and when I came back in later that day I had Facebook advising me that my videos were ready to view.
乌鸦传媒淎nd I thought to myself, 乌鸦传媒榃hat videos?乌鸦传媒櫸谘淮綕
This email had links to 17 of them, all uploaded within two minutes of each other.
Edwards didn乌鸦传媒檛 dare click on any of the links, but next thing he knew he was looking at another email, with Facebook saying his account was suspended, he乌鸦传媒檇 breached community standards and he had 30 days to dispute it.
The problem at that point was, there was no way to dispute it. He couldn乌鸦传媒檛 find any humans to talk to, only unhelpful links.
乌鸦传媒淓ach link I tried sent me to that Facebook screen saying my account was suspended and I had 30 days to respond,乌鸦传媒� Edwards said. 乌鸦传媒淚 did find one link to people who are concerned about data breaches through Facebook. I wrote an email and actually got a human being who told me it wasn乌鸦传媒檛 their department and they couldn乌鸦传媒檛 help me.
乌鸦传媒淪omewhere in there was a phone number in California to try, but no one answers. It乌鸦传媒檚 just a voice recording.乌鸦传媒�
As if that乌鸦传媒檚 not bad enough, Edwards also got hit in the pocketbook.
He had a long-dormant PayPal account, still attached to Facebook and linked to his bank account. Whoever hacked his account bought Facebook advertising and he was tagged for $328.
乌鸦传媒淭hey didn乌鸦传媒檛 get my credit card information, because that expired, otherwise they could have drained that account too,乌鸦传媒� Edwards said. 乌鸦传媒淎s it is, I乌鸦传媒檝e had to go through a bunch of business with my bank and register with Western Union and Equifax and that sort of thing, in case they try to do anything else.乌鸦传媒�
Edwards is far from the only person to be fooled by phishing emails, although he still struggles to understand what exactly triggered the hack.
乌鸦传媒淚乌鸦传媒檝e looked at the emails over and over and I still can乌鸦传媒檛 tell which one might be a phishing email,乌鸦传媒� he said.
But a Google search using terms like Facebook hack or suspended will produce similar tales.
When he went to the RCMP to open a file after discovering the bank fraud, he said to an officer, 乌鸦传媒淚 can乌鸦传媒檛 believe they got me.乌鸦传媒�
乌鸦传媒淎nd his response was, 乌鸦传媒楧on乌鸦传媒檛 kick yourself too hard about it. They乌鸦传媒檙e professionals and they have a knack for making things look almost identical to a message from Facebook.乌鸦传媒�
In most cases, there乌鸦传媒檚 no happy ending to this scenario. Once a Facebook account is compromised, there乌鸦传媒檚 no getting it back.
For Edwards, an actor and audio/video content producer (streamworks.ca and geoffedwards.media), the lost account means lost contacts. There are 600 or so people he乌鸦传媒檚 connected with over the years. Those contacts are gone. He乌鸦传媒檚 thankful to still have his Twitter handle (@geoffedwards) with 1,100-plus followers, but Facebook appears to be a total writeoff.
乌鸦传媒淎t this point I乌鸦传媒檇 have to create a whole new identify on Facebook, and I don乌鸦传媒檛 know if I want to,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淏ut if I were back on Facebook today I乌鸦传媒檇 tell people on there to nail down their account, be very cautious about what they click on and don乌鸦传媒檛 depend on Facebook alone for your social media presence.
乌鸦传媒淏eing on Facebook is a necessary evil these days because that乌鸦传媒檚 where you connect with your customers and your community, and that乌鸦传媒檚 where employers go to find out about you, but you need to be hyper-alert with any e-mails claiming to be from Facebook, or any social media platform for that matter.乌鸦传媒�
eric.welsh@hopestandard.com
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