INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis man has successfully regained control of his hacked Facebook page following a WRTV Investigation into “shallow fakes.”
In a “shallow fake,” the scammer uses your own videos to pretend to be you on social media.
As WRTV reported in May, it happened to Leonard Patterson of Indianapolis.
“It’s really sad that someone would go to this length to take advantage of people,” said Patterson.
WATCH | Shallow fakes scam aims to trick Facebook users
On June 18, Patterson tagged WRTV Investigates Kara Kenney when he posted, “Heyyyy guess what!?!? We did it!! It’s MEEE. LPPPPP!!!” from his original Facebook page.
A year ago, a hacker got into Patterson’s Facebook page of 5,000 followers.
WRTV Investigates and Patterson have been contacting Meta to try to get Patterson his page back.
“I kept messaging my contact at Facebook,” said Patterson on Tuesday. “And it wasn't until I sent her the story / article that apparently she understood all the details!! So, I'm calling that a huge WIN and thank you!!!”
While his page was compromised, the hacker sent Patterson’s friends direct messages about Taylor Swift tickets.
"I've had friends tell me they've tried to send him $2800 for tickets,” said Patterson. "I had a couple people saying I think he's using a deep fake."
Jeff Vest, a friend of Patterson’s, laid a trap in the hopes of catching the “deep fake.”
Vest hit record and asked to FaceTime the person claiming to be Leonard Patterson.
“It’s scary,” said Vest.
Leonard Patterson’s face appeared on the FaceTime, but there was no audio.
It was actually a “shallow fake”—the hacker was playing a muted video of Leonard Patterson from his Facebook page.
"The FaceTime chat was actually a video clip of the real Leonard saying something,” said Vest. “He held it right up to the phone. I could tell immediately when he stopped the video there was a pause button, so it was an obvious recording.”
The hacker made an excuse about the lack of audio.
“He was trying to make people believe it was really Leonard,” said Vest. “Some people might have fallen for it.”
Leonard Patterson said he also could see how friends would believe he was trying to FaceTime them.
"I thought it was a deep fake but then I was like ‘oh no, I made that video a couple years ago,’” said Patterson. “It's a shallow fake."
WRTV Investigates asked the Identity Theft Resource Center if they’ve heard of this type of scam.
“We have,” said Eva Velasquez, CEO at the Identity Theft Resource Center. “It’s a cheap fake, because it’s very low cost.”
Velasquez said scammers know you want reassurance your Facebook friend’s message is real.
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center:
- In 2023, social media account takeovers made up 30% of accounts reported as taken over. They were the most reported type of account takeover, even more than checking accounts (21% of account takeovers) or credit card accounts (17%).
- 96% of the reports mentioned Facebook or Instagram
- So far in 2024, social media account takeovers are the 3rd highest reported type of account takeover (15%), behind checking accounts (25%) and credit cards (16%).
- 89% of the reports mentioned Facebook or Instagram
- This means ITRC saw a 2 percentage point increase in 2023 over the previous year.
“It is really a terrible problem without good solutions once it happens,” said Velasquez.
The Identity Theft Resource Center is calling on Meta to do more to address the problem, including improving customer service by adding human beings you can talk to.
That’s where this story takes another, unexpected turn.
Leonard Patterson did a Google search for “how to talk to a person at Facebook” and found a phone number.
“Somebody picked up,” said Patterson.
But when an agent insisted on Patterson’s payment app information, Patterson realized he was talking to a scammer posing as Facebook customer service.
"How many people are getting hacked on Facebook and then getting hacked again?” asked Patterson.
The Identity Theft Resource Center doesn’t have statistics, but it happens a lot, according to Velasquez.
“People think if it's coming up on a public search on the internet, it must be verified and that is not the case,” said “I want to make it very clear there is no customer service number for Facebook, for Meta. It does not exist."
WRTV Investigates Kara Kenney did an own internet search and found a bunch of phone numbers claiming to be Facebook customer service, including an 877 number.
Kenney called and told the agent our Facebook account had been hacked.
The agent claimed he was with Facebook and provided an employee ID number.
However, he refused to send Kenney an email from Meta saying his supervisor would not allow it.
The agent claimed he looked into my case and found unusual activity.
“Someone logged into my account from Canada?” asked Kenney.
The agent then asked Kenney to download software to remotely access her computer—a trick scammers use to access your personal information.
The man hung up on us, but one thing was clear— someone desperate to get their Facebook account back could fall for it.
“Be extra diligent,” said Leonard Patterson. “Be careful what you click on.”
Patterson created new Facebook page to warn his friends and family that his original account was hacked.
WRTV Investigates contacted the FBI.
“The FBI encourages victims who believe they have experienced criminal activity or financial loss or threats to their safety, to consider reporting it to law enforcement, and/or the FBI,” read a statement from the FBI. “To learn more about current scams and how to protect yourself, please visit https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/scams-and-safety [fbi.gov]. "
WRTV Investigates has also contacted Meta several times on Leonard Patterson’s behalf and we are still waiting to hear back.
Tips to Protect Yourself:
- Use unique passwords on each account
- Don’t reuse passwords
- Set up multifactor authentication
- Create a new Facebook page to warn friends and family
- Go through the platform’s process to get your account back
- Do not try to call Facebook or negotiate with hackers
- If you get a message from a friend that seems odd, get away from the platform and call the person on the phone or talk to them in person
- Consider it a red flag if your “friend’ won’t talk to you on the phone or in-person
- Don’t be fooled by messages and videos, which can be faked
