TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa woman said hackers took over her social media accounts and bank account after she received a notification to verify login information.
Vanessa Cahuas works as a court translator. She also creates content and highlights local businesses.
Cahuas posts that content online and has nearly 17,000 followers. She said hackers gained control over her company's page, Licencia Para Divertirse.
"They were posting that I have talked to a mentor for Bitcoin and they have helped me so much and now I have $12,000. I invested $2,000 and now I have $12,000 dollars. They were sending pictures of my bank account that they created with my picture," said Cahuas.
She said she received a notification on her phone to verify login information.
"Even to my Apple ID, they changed my password. They got into my phone. I couldn't make any phone calls or call or have the internet on my phone," she said.
Cahuas said the hackers made purchases using her bank account and she still hasn't gotten her money back.
She says she also still does not have control over her social media accounts.
"I have so much history and work and followers and I do so much with that, it hurts more than just a page I can created and tell all my friends to join me again," she said.
Roger Grimes, cybersecurity expert with KnowBe4, says account take overs happen every day.
"I mean when I say it's very common for people to be tricked out of their social media accounts in some way by revealing a password or running some malware that allows hackers to take over the computer, it happens millions of times a day," said Grimes.
Grimes encourages people to use a phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication.
"Number one, they should be using phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication, that's where you have some sort of software or hardware, maybe some type of USB key is probably among the preferred methods to log into your account so if someone tries to trick you out of your password, if you're not using a password it's not going to work. It just makes taking over your account significantly harder."
He also encourages people to use a password manager.
"It needs to be 20 characters or longer in order to make sure that it doesn't get broken by hackers, we call that a pass phrase when you created a password something like, "Roger jumps over the brown cow," he added.
Grimes said be cautious of links or suspicious emails.
"70-90% of all successful hacking involves tricking a human into doing something they shouldn’t," he said.
To learn more on how to protect yourself online, click here.
