Attorney general pressures Facebook for crackdown
Users’ identities stolen in rash of account takeovers
Last September Tanya Bevilaqua found herself locked out of multiple Facebook pages, both her personal and business accounts.
The lockout came after months of harassing, even threatening messages, coming through seemingly legitimate Facebook accounts telling her she was “infringing on copyright rules” or “violating community standards.”
“The messages come in as a link demanding I verify my ID or ‘we will shut you down in 24 hours,’” Bevilaqua said. “They bombard the crap out of you till you question yourself.”
Finally, she clicked on the fake link. “Within 24 hours I was locked out and they changed the name on my account,” she said.
Bevilaqua, of Montrose, was as one of hundreds of Pennsylvanians who between 2022 and 2023 suddenly found themselves shut out of their accounts on Facebook and Instragram with no way to fix it. Attempts to get help through Facebook were futile, she said, and it was impossible to figure out which law enforcement entity to complain to.
Meanwhile, the victims were forced to scramble to make sure their personal information wasn’t used for nefarious purposes and bank accounts were not compromised.
Now Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry and 39 other attorneys general are turning up the heat on parent company Meta, demanding in a letter that the company investigate the rash of account takeovers.
“Being locked out of a Facebook or Instagram account can be catastrophic for account holders who are left helpless as hackers, in some cases, assume their identity,” Henry said. “We are demanding action from Meta and information that explains the alarming increase in takeover activity.”
The number of complaints rose 270%, from 150 in 2022 to 556 in 2023, the attorney general’s office said.
Bevilaqua, whose work with horses and people focuses on body mechanics, hired a company to help her get an account back without luck. Eventually, she reached out to her state lawmaker, Rep. Jonathan Fritz, R-Susquehanna, who helped get her to human being at Facebook.
It took three months, but finally her account was restored but not without cost.
“It cost me business in terms of social media profile,” she said. “If you’re not in someone’s face you don’t have value. I have to make up for lost time.”
Bevilaqua said while she’s pleased the attorney general is taking steps to urge Facebook to investigate, she wants Facebook to heed the call for greater scrutiny over accounts.
“I hope they are educated enough to trust Meta in investigating,” she said. “Why are there so many convincing profiles up? Why is there no security and too many challenges to fix it? This is a serious security breach for the world. I hope it’s taken extremely seriously.”
Henry said the increase in account takeovers may be related to Meta’s recent layoffs of around 11,000 employees, many reportedly from the “security, privacy, and integrity sector.” The attorneys general are requesting a meeting with Meta leadership to discuss the situation, while urging the company to increase investment in preventing future account takeovers.