Scammers are getting savvier, as Lorie LeRiche recently discovered.
The co-owner of Krown, a rust protection company, was tricked into thinking she was helping a local business.
“She asked me to vote for her for an ambassadorship. Wanting to support, I said “of course,” LeRiche said.
LeRiche took to the Instagram account to check who she was helping before making the fateful decision to click on the post.
“Instantly, it all started. He disconnected,” she explained.
LeRiche Couldn’t Access Work Account: “I had another account that I messaged him on and then he blocked everything on me.”
Jon Dezan has a social media business and helps LeRicke out of his predicament.
“It’s a mine out there,” he said.
Dezan says that once hackers have control, they use the account to send messages to followers, which turns into a giant message web.
“I started getting messages and phone calls from other people like ‘what happened to my Instagram? I just voted for you’. I just went ‘oh no’,” a said LeRiche.
Dezan says his company receives between 100 and 200 of these scam messages a week and warns there are more people should be aware of.
One involves a follower asking for help unlocking their account. The other is on Facebook and asks you to verify your account.
“You would think Facebook would have a better support system for this for small business owners considering how much business owners spend on Facebook and Instagram advertising,” he said.
LeRiche says she will continue her fight to regain control of her account while warning others that something like this could cost them an opportunity to promote business or more.
“You’ll have people saying ‘you know not to click on anything when it happens,'” she said. “Yes, but this one was well worded.”
