Image source, Getty Images
- Author, Ian Youngs
- Role, Entertainment and arts journalist
Facebook users whose accounts were hacked and hijacked to sell fake Taylor Swift tickets have criticized the platform for not doing more to stop scammers.
Some said friends had lost hundreds of pounds after responding to scam messages offering tickets for Swift’s UK tour dates, and that Facebook had not responded to multiple attempts to report the hacks.
Kerry Plant, from Worcester, said: “If they had reacted to this a little bit earlier we could have avoided a lot of this.”
Facebook said it takes the safety and security of our community “seriously” and “continually invests in fraud protection.”
There has been huge demand for tickets to see the pop superstar’s Eras tour, which hits Europe when she performs in Paris on Thursday, ahead of UK dates in June and August.
Last month, Lloyds Bank estimated that British fans had lost £1 million to ticket scams, 90% of which are believed to have started on Facebook.
Ms Plant said two Facebook friends lost more than £300 each after being duped by posts advertising tickets on her feed after her account was hacked.
“You are helpless”
She said she tried Facebook’s suggested steps for reporting a hack, and sent emails to the company about 15 times, reporting a data breach and trying to contact them on other social media platforms. Friends also reported her account and the fake posts, she said.
“It made me a little upset that I couldn’t stop this from happening and that Facebook didn’t respond to me, despite many efforts,” she said.
“We even found [Facebook chief executive] I got Mark Zuckerberg’s email and I emailed him, but a few days later I got an email saying, “You are not allowed to email email to this person.
“Many hours have been spent trying to remedy the situation. But I feel like they’re obviously such a big company that they just don’t care about this sort of thing. “
Other people almost fell for the scam but contacted Ms Plant directly to verify before handing over money.
She said she contacted all her other friends separately to warn them.
“I think the worst thing is there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s such a big organization that you’re really quite helpless,” Ms Plant added.
The company deleted her account last week after being contacted by the BBC.
Zhenya Winter, from London, also had her account hacked and discovered that a friend of her sister’s had been scammed on her account selling non-existent tickets.
“I found out from my sister who called me and said, ‘This lady is absolutely distraught,'” she said.
“Even though it’s not my fault, you feel guilty.”
Ms Winter, who works in the payments industry, said the message was so sophisticated that she suspects hackers used artificial intelligence to replicate her writing style.
“Even some of my fellow payments experts were potentially deceived. But I managed to reach them just before they made the transaction.”
She tried to report the hack and contact Facebook several times, and asked her friends to do the same, but was “furious” at the lack of response.
And when friends tried to comment on the posts to warn others, they were blocked by the hackers, meaning their replies didn’t appear.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” she said. “So even when I knew this was happening, I was absolutely defenseless to anything other than communicating via WhatsApp or whatever with my friends.
“Other than that, I’m absolutely helpless. I don’t really want to use Facebook anymore.
“I think they have a responsibility to act quickly. This is obviously a scam. They have received several complaints about this.”
Facebook has now deleted Ms Winter’s account, but the time it took “frankly is not enough”, she said.
“They took a while to do it… After I reported it, there were still scams going on for at least two or three weeks.”
The hackers demanded that payments be sent to accounts with “challenger banks” like Revolut and Monzo, which are more vulnerable to fraud, Ms Winter said.
If anyone is tempted by an advert on Facebook, she suggests it is always worth checking with the account holder by contacting them separately first.
“I would always have doubts,” she said. “Assume it’s bad until you can confirm it.”
Her account was hacked in December and Facebook has yet to respond, despite multiple requests, she said. She does not have control of her account, which is still active.
“For some reason, Facebook doesn’t really seem interested and doesn’t seem to remove it,” she said.
“It’s very frustrating and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Consumer organization Which one? said: “If Facebook does not respond to reports of accounts being hacked by fraudsters, this is completely unacceptable.
“This is exactly the type of failing for which Ofcom should be prepared to take strong action against the use of the Online Safety Act, including possibly issuing fines.
“The regulator must also hold platforms to high standards to prevent these scams from happening.”
Facebook said it was investigating the accounts that had come to its attention.
“We continually invest in fraud protection on our platforms and work closely with law enforcement to address this issue,” a statement said.
“We take the safety and security of our community seriously. We encourage everyone to create a strong password, enable two-factor authentication, and be wary of emails or messages asking for personal information.
“We also have a feature called Security Checkup to help people secure their Instagram and Facebook accounts.”
