WASHINGTON (TND) — Having your account spoofed or hijacked on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram can quickly turn into a nightmare.
Spotlight on America discovered there’s been a sharp increase in complaints nationwide regarding social media-related identity theft. What’s worse is that all too often social media companies do little to help their own users who’ve been hacked.
California mom Sonia Gomez was the victim of a Facebook takeover last summer. Within hours, hackers falsely posted that she had a new job at a cryptocurrency company and was helping people make big money. But it wasn’t true.
I’ve never worked in crypto. Ever, ever, ever,” Gomez said.
The scammers changed her password and locked her out, but Gomez says Facebook wouldn’t help.
“Every time I’d report, they’d say ‘I see nothing wrong with this page,’” she said.
It turned into a several month-long ordeal to regain control of her own page.
Veteran’s account hacked
In another instance, Scott Vreeland of Georgia also told Spotlight on America Facebook wouldn’t help him when his deceased brother’s account was hacked.
Sean Vreeland was a disabled Army veteran. After he died of a heart attack in 2022, his brother says scammers took over his account, using it to pitch yet another cryptocurrency scam.
“The scammer also removed all of the posts from the family saying condolences and all the pictures we had posted,” Scott Vreeland said.
Vreeland says Facebook wouldn’t respond, even after he mailed them his brother’s death certificate.
“My brother was a hardworking man. He was honest. He was a veteran, and he really deserves to rest with a clean name and rest in peace.”
Spike in hacking complaints
Unfortunately, Vreeland and Gomez are far from alone.
Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of 41 state attorneys general sent a letter to Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, demanding “immediate action” to address what they called a “dramatic and persistent spike” in complaints about “account takeovers and lock-outs.”
The AGs cited a sharp increase in complaints in multiples states, including:
- 270% increase in Pennsylvania
- 256% increase in Illinois
- 330% in North Carolina
- 740% in Vermont
Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center, blames growing complaints on shrinking customer service.
“There is no legitimate phone number for customer service for any of the social media platforms. Period,” Velasquez said. “They don’t have enough people actually providing this support to users. They’ve tried to automate everything.”
Little recourse for social media users
No matter how frustrated you might get, there’s not much you can do, even if a social media platform won’t take down fraudulent information. Those lengthy Terms of Service agreements most of us just click and accept are packed with convoluted legalize that give the companies an overwhelming edge, especially if you try to sue.
Even more protection comes from Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. The 30-year-old law shields social media companies from liability. Congress has been working to update the law for years with no success.
Spotlight on America talked with Orlando area representative Darren Soto who is pushing for Congress to do more to regulate social media giants.
SOA: Why is this taking so long?
Soto: There’s a lot of powerful interest. There’s a lot of disagreement. Some politics gets in the way.
In April, Soto introduced the Shield Act to give social media users more legal rights to get platforms to take down false information and potentially sue if the companies don’t do it in a timely fashion.
“You can’t have privacy rights and no ability to enforce them. That’s a toothless tiger,” Soto said.
Meta response
Spotlight on America contacted Meta about the rise in complaints over account take-overs. A spokesperson didn’t answer SOA’s specific questions but provided this statement:
We know that losing and recovering access to your online accounts can be a frustrating experience. We invest heavily in designing account security systems to help prevent account compromise in the first place, and educating our users, including by regularly sharing new security features and tips for how people can stay safe and vigilant against potential targeting by hackers. But we also know that bad actors, including scammers, target people across the internet and constantly adapt to evade detection by social media platforms like ours, email and telecom providers, banks and others.
SOA: Do these social media platforms have a moral obligation to do more?
Soto: Honestly, I do not expect companies to just do things out of goodwill. It’s a free market system. Morally. There’s a lot of things companies could be doing. It’s congress’ inaction that’s the biggest problem right now.
Account access finally returned
Gomez says she went back and forth with Facebook for three months with no success in regaining access to her account. During that time, her friend ended up being scammed by the hackers out of $15,000. Gomez was so upset she contacted Spotlight on America partner in Fresno, KMPH. After reporter Liz Gonzalez contacted Facebook on Gomez’ behalf, the platform finally gave her back control of her own page.
The brother of veteran Sean Vreeland ended up filing a lawsuit against Facebook to get their attention. After eight months, Vreeland says the social media giant finally memorialized his brother’s account, this past April.
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Social media users struggle to regain account access after being hacked
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