ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Kim Pace Hinely lost access to her Facebook profile in October 2022. Then she started receiving messages from family members and friends asking if she was selling furniture, appliances, and puppies on Facebook Marketplace.She was not.The hacker posted phony listings and asked victims to pay in advance. A victim on a UGA Parent’s page says she lost $600, thinking it was Hinely.Hinely spent the next six months reporting the hacked account to Facebook, but the profile stayed online, even after Atlanta News First Investigates asked Meta’s media relations team to remove it.Over the next three months, a series of stories aired, demanding the profile’s removal before Facebook conceded. A spokesperson did not provide a reason for the delay.“I am happy that they’re gone,” Hinely said. “I don’t have to look on Facebook or have a friend call me and ask, ‘Are you selling something?’ Or threatening my life; my life has been threatened through all this!”The Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit watchdog group that monitors data breaches and offers guidance to victims, said there’s been a dramatic increase in hacked accounts since 2021, and the majority of victims report being locked out of
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Woman claims death threats because of stolen Facebook profile – Atlanta News First
