To pieces.
If you saw an advertisement on Facebook, or possibly Instagram, sponsored by our Dig Paddlesports page, and it was for a $35 or so LED/globe/drone/sphere kids' toy, then you saw the result of a scam.
Our Facebook account was hacked (we think in mid-November, '21), and $1500 drained from our advertising account. Facebook (or one of their algorithmic decision-makers) locked us out of the account, but didn't mind allowing the scam ad to run for weeks.
The ad was shown to us several times from good customers that have become great friends over the years. Each instance of the ad had our name across the top, but a different URL to visit at the bottom of each ad.
Multiple entreaties were made to Facebook from our team with no response. One FB rep had actually just reached out via email to us to invite us to join a business leadership FB group. At least we had an email from SOMEONE inside the organization. We reached out to him directly. He claimed that he would send it to someone for review, but, as of this entry, we are going on four weeks of the scam coming to our attention. Our only remedy so far is to simply make backup accounts, try to reconnect with so many businesses and personal connections as fast as we can and hope for the best.
We were able to recover the stolen funds, in spite of Facebook's lack of cooperation. If you have been a victim, either as a consumer or advertiser, we suggest reaching out to your card's issuing bank and file a dispute claim.
Our updated Instagram account is @digpaddlesports2.0
Our updated Facebook account is facebook.com/digpaddlesports2.0
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/DigPaddlesports Handle: DigPaddlesports
Moving forward... Happy New Year!
