[James Gutierrez]

BEWARE: Popular Facebook group stolen and sold off by hackers​

An incredibly popular Facebook group, boasting over 370,000 members, was reportedly stolen and sold off by hackers from another country.

Joelle, the founder and sole administrator of the “Cleaning & Organising Inspiration Australia” Facebook group, said that she was locked out of her own Facebook account and kicked out of the Facebook group. Then, she was replaced by three foreigners as the group’s administrators.

The Cleaning & Organising Inspiration Australia Facebook group was stolen by hackers from its original admin. Credit: Facebook.​

Six years ago, Joelle created the group to build a “supportive and inspiring” community for thousands of Aussies who are looking to share their household hacks.

However, on January 17, she discovered that her Facebook account was deactivated against her will.

“I was greeted with a screen saying my Facebook account has been deactivated and I immediately pressed the option to appeal the decision,” the mum recalled.

“I woke my husband up and we checked the group through his account and saw there were three new admins.” Joelle believes the people are hackers from Afghanistan and Turkey.

“We think they hacked into my account and deactivated me,” she said. Since she was the sole admin of the group, the hackers jumped at the chance and appointed themselves as the new admins.

After a few weeks of investigations, she found out that the group had been sold off to a third party for $3,000.

Joelle and a few concerned people have reached out to the new admin. However, since the Facebook group was bought from the hackers, the new administrator is asking Joelle to reimburse the $3,000 to get her group back.

According to Joelle, Facebook is currently reviewing her case and is working to return the group back to her.

“Ideally, we want Facebook to reverse this and give us the group back along with my profile,” she said. “I’m afraid to lose all those members and content.”

And apart from losing the group with over 370,000 members, Joelle admitted she was devastated to lose her Facebook profile as well, which held 15 years worth of memories with her husband and kids, including her stillborn daughter.

Some concerned individuals formed a new Facebook group that has been set to private. Credit: Facebook.​

Since the hacking incident, the original Cleaning & Organising Inspiration Australia Facebook group is still up and running. However, it’s no longer under Joelle’s management.

On the other hand, many loyal supporters formed another group called Cleaning & Organising Inspiration Australia 2.0 and tracked down Joelle’s new Facebook profile to include her in the private group.

According to Joelle, some members of the original Facebook group have been receiving fishy messages from random people.

We must advise our members that, if any of you are members of Cleaning & Organising Inspiration Australia Facebook group, be careful not to engage with messages from strangers, especially those who are sending suspicious links, as these may compromise your personal information.

Just this week, we have reported about a fake “ALDI Fans” Facebook page, claiming to give away “vouchers”, in exchange for some personal details.

To protect your account, always remember to avoid clicking on suspicious links, and avoid responding to messages or emails asking for your password, any personal information, or credit card information.