North Carolina’s attorney general has called on Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to thoroughly review their data security practices after a rise in scammers taking over and locking users out of their accounts.
From 2022 to 2023, Attorney General Josh Stein said the North Carolina Department of Justice saw a 330 percent increase in complaints related to these account takeovers.
“Meta has encouraged its users to share more and more information and live more of their lives on Facebook and Instagram, but it hasn’t done enough to protect that information,” said Stein. “The company needs to do more, now, to safeguard people’s accounts and data.”
The Department of Justice received 552 complaints in last year and 115 complaints in the first two months this year. Since 2019, he said North Carolinians have claimed more than $5.8 million in related losses.
Once scammers hijack a Facebook or Instagram user’s account and change the password, Stein said they can steal personal information, read private messages, pose as the user to scam contacts, and even post publicly as the rightful user.
Scammers might also get access to credit card information, location data, photos, and business and bank information.
