Facebook phishing scam locks Grammy award-winning musician out of account

A Grammy-award-winning Montreal singer-songwriter said she's having difficulty promoting her work after her Facebook page was hacked.

She received a notification about violating a Facebook rule and had 12 hours to respond. It turned out to be a phishing scam. 

"It seemed so official," she said. "They had all the rules and everything. It felt really legit." 

Her account was locked.

After several calls and emails to Facebook and Meta, all Gasoi got was other scam attempts.

Terry Cutler is a cybersecurity expert with Cyology Labs and said online pirates often make offers such as: "Give us $500 and we'll unlock your account, and then you give the money, they block you and you have no account and no money."

He believes Facebook can trace what happened to Gasoi.

"There's evidence in the back and this says, 'Hey, I used to always log in from Montreal. Now I'm logging in from another country, and my account information changed. At the same time, this fake account was logged in,'" said Cutler. "They have traces of this thing occurring. They should be able just easily revert back."

Cutler adds that it's important to protect yourself online with things like strong passwords that you change often and two-factor authentication However, you shouldn't expect social media companies to help.

Gasoi is still on X and Instagram and said she needs social media to keep in touch with her 14,000 followers.

"It's a fundamental part of my marketing, my vehicle for promotion, my vehicle for connection with my fans, with my friends," she said.

Cutler's free Fraudster app helps people keep up with the latest scams. His own profile was misused recently by an online imposter. 

"Somebody was using my photos and my son's photos to create a fake dating profile and Scammed her out of $60,000!" he said.

It's another cautionary tale and a problem many face in such a connected world.