Troubleshooter: Facebook hacker

Monday, April 04, 2011

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cumberland county, troubleshooter

CUMBERLAND COUNTY (WTVD) -- Soon after a Cumberland County family lost their loved one in a boating accident last summer, they started noticing activity on their deceased loved one's Facebook account.

And it wasn't just any activity, it was derogatory and mean spirited comments posted by a hacker that the family says only made grieving even harder.

"For someone to do this to not just my son, but to anyone who has passed away this is criminal," Mendy Coleman said. "This is desecrating my son's memory and it's not just sick, but criminal. It's his property and memories."

Coleman lost her son, 21-year-old Brandon Godfrey, in a boating accident in August. Just days after his death, his sister, Jheri Godfrey, says she realized something wasn't right with her brother's Facebook account.

"I received messages on Facebook from someone who said someone is adding friends on your brother's page," Jheri said.

She says she tried to get into Brandon's Facebook page.

"I go to his e-mail and it is completely changed," she said. "So the hacker had already changed his e-mail to obviously prevent anyone from getting the password."

Jheri says she then reached out to the hacker.

"I sent him a message and asked him to please stop and he blocked me and a bunch of his close friends," she said.

But the damage was done. Besides being blocked people from Brandon's page, the hacker wrote inappropriate comments on his page.

"I was very hurt and upset, why would anyone do that," Jheri said.

She and her mother say they tried to email Facebook to stop the hacker, but didn't have any luck.

"It's really sad when it's a case like this I tried contacting Facebook and they never contacted me back," Coleman said. "I tried memorializing his page, but it wouldn't go through."

So Coleman got in touch with ABC11 Eyewitness News I-Team Troubleshooter Diane Wilson, who contacted Facebook.

A representative with Facebook responded immediately and memorialized Brandon Godfrey's Facebook page. They also got rid of the derogatory comments.

"A lot of relief, I don't think it just brings me relief, his family, his friends who really miss him," Coleman said.

Facebook does have a section on their website where it explains what steps need to be taken in order to memorialize a page. For some reason, Brandon's family was not successful in doing that, but once we brought it to Facebook's attention they did take care of it right away.