Chicago area spa owner finally able to clean up Facebook page after hackers post smut
CHICAGO (CBS) – In August, a suburban spa owner told CBS 2 about how her Facebook page was taken over by porn-loving hackers.
Months passed until someone at the social media giant cared enough to help her.
Things like Zen music and relaxing beauty treatments are exactly what one might expect from a spa. That's in sharp contrast to the filth lurking on the Schaumburg spa owner's computer, specifically on her business Facebook page for much of last year.
Noelle Fredrick first told CBS 2 about her smut-filled social media page in August.
"It's frustrating," she said.
CBS 2 hounded Facebook and parent company Meta more than half a dozen times. But the technology giant ignored the requests for comment.
Reporter: "What happened after our story aired?"
Fredrick: "Well, nothing as far as Facebook was concerned."
Months passed, and while Facebook ignored multiple requests for information on Fredrick's situation, the company invited CBS 2 to cover positive events. CBS 2 pushed back and told Facebook about Fredrick's plight.
Finally, someone cared.
Meta finally gave Fredrick control of her Facebook page, but she showed CBS 2 what was waiting for her when she logged in: X-rated messages.
"I was solicited by gentlemen," she said. "I was solicited on my personal Facebook page, so that was gross. I went to the police department, because I didn't want any creeps coming here to the spa."
Frederick added that seeing the messages was "gross. It's wrong!" But that's how the world viewed her small business for 10 months.
"I personally erased 2,000 videos that were posted," Fredrick said. "I personally erased them. Meta did not erase anything."
Her page is clean now, but it wasn't easy.
"Probably three days it took me, solid. Probably, I don't know, eight hours [a day] I would be working on this stuff," Fredrick said. "When I should have been working on my clients."
Her current followers are actually interested in tranquil spa services.
"If it wasn't for CBS and your persistency and your advocacy, I would not have gotten my page back," Fredrick said.
While Fredrik was grateful to have her page back, she still didn't receive answers from Facebook about why it took so long for the company to act and why it ignored her many requests for help.
Her story serves as a lesson for others to use proper security measures to protect their Facebook account and to not click on any questionable content because if they get hacked, it's virtually impossible to clean up the mess.
Meta did say that people who are locked out of their accounts can visit Facebook.com/hacked, where they can receive step-by-step guidance on how to recover access to their accounts.
Here are some recommended best practices from Meta and tips users can follow to strengthen their account security and help prevent compromise in the first place:
- Enable two-factor authentication as an extra layer of security for your Facebook account (and across all your online accounts). With two-factor authentication, you'll be asked to enter a special login code or confirm your login attempt each time someone tries accessing Facebook from a computer or mobile device we don't recognize.
- We also encourage you to sign up to receive alerts for unrecognized logins. These alerts will tell you which device tried logging in and where it's located.
- We also recommend that people ensure their other high value accounts are secure, such as their email accounts. Sometimes, hackers may use access to people's emails to compromise their Facebook accounts.
- You should only accept friend and message requests from people you know. Take time to review and confirm each friend and message request that you receive before responding.
