JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two Jacksonville tiny companies had been the victim of a scam that left them locked out of their social media accounts, which means they lost a important element of their marketing and advertising.

Now, they want other folks to be conscious so it does not take place to their accounts.

Gabby Montana says a lot of her organization is completed by means of social media. She tends to make custom indicators for particular events such as weddings to customized residence décor.

Montana mentioned owning her tiny organization operates with her schedule simply because she’s a mother and a Navy wife, who’s frequently moving about.

“Once we moved back to Jacksonville, it type of blew up much more than I believed it was going to,” Montana mentioned.

Montana lately posted an Instagram Reel that went viral with much more than a million views, so when she received a message from what appeared to be Instagram’s parent corporation, Meta, she immediately jumped into action.

“I believed, ‘Oh gosh, perhaps I did do one thing incorrect,’” Montana mentioned. “I’m such a rule follower. So, I clicked the hyperlink suitable away.”

And that a single click was all it took for the hackers posing as Meta officials to take more than her organization account, adjust the name, photos and password and hold her followers.

Montana attempted to attain out to Instagram for help to no avail. So, she resorted to begging the hacker to return her web page. They, then, asked for a ransom of $200 for her to get her account back. Montana declined the give.

Montana is not the only organization owner to have fallen victim to this scam. The very same day, the owner of BS Sweet Styles, which is a neighborhood baking corporation, also mentioned she lost her account the very same way.

Former News4JAX customer reporter Lauren Verno, who now operates for cybersecurity firm OnDefend, mentioned this is a prevalent scam that folks will need to appear out for.

“Who’s to say in a couple of weeks that they will not ask for it once again, or that they will ever give you back access? So, after it is gone, you are probably not going to be in a position to obtain your way out of it,” Verno mentioned.

Verno mentioned she’s noticed this take place to million-dollar organizations as nicely.

“They’ve lost millions simply because of factors just like this, that a single e mail. It goes back to take a appear at it. Take that second and perhaps just ask, do a small study simply because nothing’s going to take place in 5 minutes. If you click that message suitable away, it’ll likely be worse if you did it,” Verno mentioned.

Montana mentioned the hacking is costing her a small bit of funds but the assistance she’s received from neighborhood companies has been astounding as they shared her story on their pages.

Montana is spreading her message and attempting to get Instagram’s focus by means of a new web page that she developed that has more than 600 followers.

News4JAX reached out to Meta to see if there’s much more that could be completed, but we haven’t heard back.

Copyright 2023 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.