Sask. woman regains access to hacked Facebook account

An online business owner in Outlook has regained access to her company’s hacked Facebook page after five months of struggling to get Facebook owner Meta to help resolve the issue.

What changed? On Monday, CTV News sent an email to the company’s media line on her behalf. Two days later, after some back and forth, brokering her information, she was in.

“I’m honestly in shock that it all happened so fast after contacting you,” said Rochelle Annala, who runs Bibs and Boots Fabric.

“My only wish is that I would have gone to you five months earlier.”

The spokesperson for Meta — Facebook’s parent company — would not comment on why Annala’s three emails a week over months yielded no results, but they did offer a general statement.

“We’re happy to share more information on how to regain access to your account and tips on keeping your Facebook accounts safe,” said Meta spokesperson David Troya-Alvarez.

“If someone suspects their accounts have been hacked, the best course of action to take is to visit facebook.com/hacked,” he said.

“We also encourage everyone to turn on two-factor authentication as an added layer of protection.”

Annala is happy to have her page back, but she says she probably won’t be purchasing ads through Facebook ever again.

“It’s just too risky,” she said.