Suffolk dog training business hit by Facebook hackers

The owner of a Suffolk dog training business is warning about the dangers of Facebook after hackers accessed used her personal details to take money from her bank account.

Zoe Willingham, who runs Best Behaviour Dog Training, told the East Anglian Daily Times that the damage was done in “mere minutes”, despite having account authentication that requires two pieces of ID to be provided before access is granted.

The money stolen was going to pay for her business costs, including staff and suppliers, as a result she has been unable to work for a short period.

Willingham said: “This is hugely stressful and devastating to my business. I can’t contact clients, or professional bodies I’m part of and I’ve set up a new account but people ignore this as they think it’s a fake.

“It’s taken hours for me to contact people to explain, meaning I’m not able to work. I’ve not been able to pay my staff or bills as I have no money in any of my accounts. I have 78 animals to feed and vet bills to pay.”

Her bank is going to rectify the losses and the disruption caused, but her Facebook profile has been closed.

She told the East Anglian Daily Times: “Facebook says I have got 30 days to appeal to them and I have got about 25 days left now, but I can’t find a single way to contact Facebook to tell them that this account was not me, it was the hackers.”

Facebook told The Canine Times that it would look into restoring the account if it was sent further details.