A New Orleans bar owner lost $10,000 after cyber criminals hijacked her Facebook business account, highlighting the growing threat of online scams targeting small businesses. Despite efforts to recover the account, the company was locked out for weeks, disrupting sales.
The US-based scam involved a fake Meta support message that tricked the owner into giving hackers access to her page. Once inside, the attackers began running ads and draining funds from the business account linked to the platform.
Cyber fraud like this is increasingly common as small businesses rely more on social media to reach their customers. The incident has renewed calls for tech giants like Meta to implement stronger user protections and improve support for scam victims.
Meta says it has systems to detect and remove fraudulent activity, but did not respond directly to this case. Experts argue that current protections are insufficient, especially for small firms with fewer resources and little recourse after attacks.
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