‘Dumb’ mistake that ruined Melbourne hairdresser’s life

A Melbourne hairdresser was left reeling on New Year’s Day after receiving a message that confirmed her worst fears.

A Melbourne hairdresser was left “devastated and in tears” on New Year’s Day when she discovered her social media account had been hacked.

Stefanie Green, 35, knew something was wrong when she couldn’t log onto Instagram on January 1.

“I spent five hours [trying], I could feel it, I was hacked,” the mum told news.com.au.

Then she received a message which confirmed her worst fears.

The hacker had sent her a ransom note promising to give her accounts back as long as she made a video promoting bitcoin.

She refused. Her feed was then taken over by Bitcoin scams and fake giveaways hoping to catch out her followers.

“I’ve had half my clients message me,” the business owner said, describing herself as “distraught”.

“My life just got stolen in a blink of an eye.”

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Stefanie’s heart sunk when she received this message on her Facebook about her Instagram account.

“Make a video of how you invested in Bitcoin mining and got your profits, saying that you invested $1000 and got back $10k,” the hacker told Ms Green.

Although she refused, the hacker was persistent.

Subsequent messages read “Are you making the video?” and “Make the video and you’ll get back your account”.

They then made posts and Instagram stories promoting the scam, directing her followers to bogus links.

Ms Green said the incident has “shattered my self-confidence” and she’s worried about the reputational damage to her business.

“It’s really hurtful, knowing someone has invaded that privacy, not just for me but for other people [like my clients],” she added.

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Stefanie Green says the hack attack has left her “distraught”.

The hacker kept demanding she send the ransom video.

Ms Green said she was tricked into handing over her login details because of the sophistication and patience of the hacker.

One of her friends, who was also a small-business owner, had her account hacked a few months ago. However, Ms Green had no idea.

For several weeks, Ms Green was speaking to this account believing she was exchanging banter with a friend — when in reality it was the scammer.

“I deadset thought I was talking to my friend,” she recalled.

The hacker told her she had won money from a promotion she had entered and that all she had to do was add their email to her Instagram account so they could get the cash to her.

As a small-business owner herself, Ms Green had run similar promotions before and saw nothing odd with it except for the way they wanted to give her the money.

As soon as she added their email, the hacker kicked her out of the account and added their own mobile number so they could reset the password.

In hindsight, Ms Green said the decision was “dumb” but at the time her trust in that account was absolute.

The hacker has also sent private messages to people including her sister and daughter.

Since her account was hacked, she has started a new one warning others about it.

However, two more people she knows of have had their accounts hijacked through her hacked Instagram profile.

Stefanie’s account is now filled with fake Bitcoin testimonies.

Her complaints to Facebook have been returned in Chinese.

To make matters worse, Ms Green hasn’t been able to get anywhere with Facebook, which oversees Instagram, to get her account back under her control.

She’s made multiple reports but received an automatic reply back in Chinese, and that’s all.

“I‘m struggling to find a way out of this and I’ve complied with Instagram’s report system and heard nothing,” she said.

“I’m more at that stage where I feel defeated that I can’t get it back.”

News.com.au flagged the issue with Facebook and a spokesperson confirmed an investigation is now under way.

In the meantime, the hacker continues to wreak havoc.

Originally published as ‘Dumb’ mistake that ruined Melbourne hairdresser’s life