'It's having a massive impact on business. My takings have plummeted'
A small business owner has told how hackers have hijacked her shop's Instagram account and are holding it to ransom. Cyber criminals sent Sacha Lees, owner of Stylejunky boutique in Sale , messages out of the blue demanding €1,000 to regain access to her account.
She said: "We are a small independent business. Instagram is the main source of getting customers to shop with us and we built up a really solid following."It's not just the 26,000 followers it's the reach that having that many followers brings. For a small business it's massive.Sacha had applied for a verified blue tick from Instagram so when, one Sunday morning, she saw a email claiming to be from Meta saying her application had been successful she opened it.
Sacha says she's 'tried everything' to get back into the account without success. She has reported the hack to Greater Manchester Police's cyber crime unit, who have tracked it back to an IP address in Istanbul. She said: "I didn't think it was real. I was in absolute shock. I've tried everything to get back into the account but it just won't work."But I've not had one reply from Instagram or Meta, nothing. It's a battle with Instagram.
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