MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — A Muskegon County woman hopes to warn others about a social media scam, after someone hacked her account and used it to sell items that did not exist.
“It was crazy,” said Angie Whipple, who lives in Whitehall. “There were like four couches, two trampolines, tons of stuff - a golf cart - things that my family and friends that are close to me know [that] I don't own all that.”
According to Whipple, she lost access to her Facebook account earlier this month after a friend messaged and asked her to send a confirmation code that the social media site sends in order to confirm the account holder’s identity.
“I know you don't do the code thing. I've heard about it, but… it's always been strangers… I hesitated for a minute and I messaged her back and I said, ‘Is this really you? Or is this a hacker?’" said Whipple. “She wrote back and said, ‘No, it’s me’ with a laughing face. It sounded like something she would say as well [and] I ended up telling her, ‘Yeah, okay, [send me the code]’”.
Within a few moments, Whipple lost access to her account and received text messages from people confused about posts that claimed she needed to sell some stuff before a move.
“I don't even think was five minutes, a friend of mine ends up texting me and he said, ‘Where did you get that side by side from?’ And I said, ‘What side by side?’” said Whipple. “He said, ‘The one you have listed’ and he sent me a screenshot of my Facebook. I knew right away. I knew what had happened.”
Similar posts under Whipple’s account soon began to appear in local yard sale groups and on Facebook Marketplace.
Janis Jourden, who lives in Ludington, paid $200 via PayPal for a dog crate that Whipple was allegedly selling.
“My sister got there and she says, ‘There's nobody here’ and I went to message her and I was blocked,” said Jourden. “I was thinking, ‘Oh, great.’”
Whipple estimates whoever hacked her account stole thousands of dollars from a handful of victims.
“My heart broke for everybody that was out this money,” said Whipple.
In an attempt to gain access to her account again and stop the posts, Whipple called a number that her sister sent, which reportedly directed people to Facebook’s Help Team.
She says the operator promised to get her profile back within a few days if she downloaded an app.
However, Whipple later discovered the app instead allowed another hacker to access personal details on her phone, like her emails and banking information.
“I had taken a picture of my kids social security numbers, my social security number was on there,” said Whipple. “In my notes section, I had every account that I was a part of from you know, Cash App to my emails.”
Troy Bake with the Better Business Bureau of Western Michigan describes both incidents as common social media scams.
In order to avoid marketplace scams, he suggests the following:
- Reverse search images to ensure they are not stock photos
- Look for clues in the background of photos, like out of season weather
- Consider if a price is too good to be true
In order to avoid app scams, he suggests the following:
- Do not download any apps unless directly linked to a company
- Make sure websites are tied to the businesses in question too
“Impersonation scams are incredibly destructive for a lot of people,” said Baker. “We see a lot of people that fall victim to these impersonation scams.”
He added, “It’s very important that you pay real close attention to where you're putting your login and password, and you protect that information as you can and then as soon as you know of a breach, you need to go through and lock down everything.”
