Hackers have brought a booming business to a halt. Stephanie Davison started “Oh For the Love of Cheesecakes” a few years ago. In August 2020, she quit her job to make customized cheesecakes full time.”If I don’t do this it will always be the ‘what if?'” said Davison. The gamble paid off. Davison was running a successful small business, until recently.She ran Oh For the love of Cheesecakes through Facebook. It’s where she took orders, communicated with customers and her nearly 20,000 followers, but she says hackers took control of her account in early November and started posting adult content.”I also had an email that said, ‘Your account has been suspended because of activity that went against our community standards,'” said Davison.She’s been locked out of her account ever since. Which means her business is temporarily closed.Davison says her attempts to make new Facebook accounts have been shut down and her attempts to reach out for help have been met with silence.”Meta certainly needs to do more,” says Lynn Hicks, chief of staff at the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, referring to the parent company that owns Facebook.Hicks says they’ve seen Facebook scams rapidly increase. They’ve intervened in 55 hacked accounts this year. “We would love to see Facebook do more to prevent it, but also where is the customer service?” asked Hicks. “They are not responding to people as we would like.”The Iowa Attorney General’s Office is now working to get the cheesecake business back online.And not a moment too soon for Davison, who says once it’s back up and running, she’ll do things differently.”I put all my eggs in Facebook, that was a mistake too,” says Davison. “Get a web page out there.”KCCI reached out to Facebook about this issue. We are waiting to hear back.
Hackers have brought a booming business to a halt.
Stephanie Davison started “Oh For the Love of Cheesecakes” a few years ago.
In August 2020, she quit her job to make customized cheesecakes full time.
“If I don’t do this it will always be the ‘what if?'” said Davison.
The gamble paid off. Davison was running a successful small business, until recently.
She ran Oh For the love of Cheesecakes through Facebook.
It’s where she took orders, communicated with customers and her nearly 20,000 followers, but she says hackers took control of her account in early November and started posting adult content.
“I also had an email that said, ‘Your account has been suspended because of activity that went against our community standards,'” said Davison.
She’s been locked out of her account ever since. Which means her business is temporarily closed.
Davison says her attempts to make new Facebook accounts have been shut down and her attempts to reach out for help have been met with silence.
“Meta certainly needs to do more,” says Lynn Hicks, chief of staff at the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, referring to the parent company that owns Facebook.
Hicks says they’ve seen Facebook scams rapidly increase. They’ve intervened in 55 hacked accounts this year.
“We would love to see Facebook do more to prevent it, but also where is the customer service?” asked Hicks. “They are not responding to people as we would like.”
The Iowa Attorney General’s Office is now working to get the cheesecake business back online.
And not a moment too soon for Davison, who says once it’s back up and running, she’ll do things differently.
“I put all my eggs in Facebook, that was a mistake too,” says Davison. “Get a web page out there.”
KCCI reached out to Facebook about this issue. We are waiting to hear back.