The beloved Kiwi icon, Suzanne Paul found herself at the mercy of hackers who have taken over her social media accounts over the weekend. The cyber attack targeted her Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram, using her online presence to promote a Bitcoin scam.
Lana from The Breakfast Club managed to get Suzanne on the phone, where she expressed the hacking incident's impact on her.
It knocked the stuffing out of me
The toll that the incident had taken was evident as she continued, "I feel quite emotional about it; people might say, well, it's just social media, but it's more than that", detailing the significant impact on her Messanger as she is now unable to get in touch with friends and family.
Suzanne, along with her husband Patrick, dedicated the entire weekend to trying to reclaim control of her accounts.
As of Tuesday morning, the posts remain up, with Suzanne unable to use the affected platforms to warn her followers about the scam.
I see sometimes other people put a message out there saying, 'Oh, I've been scammed, don't click on any messages from me,' but I can't even do that
Luckily though, she could pinpoint the hack's origin, revealing that it originated from a seemingly innocuous message sent by sports commentator Stephen McIvor.
IMAGE: Suzanne Paul's hacked posts on her Instagram @suzannepaulnz
The hacker had exploited McIvor's accounts, sending a message to Suzanne impersonating the sports commentator.
He hadn't realized somebody had hacked him, and he sent me a personal message saying, 'Could you do me a favour?' I thought it was from him, but it was from the same hacker
As it stands, Suzanne has yet to regain access to her accounts, so be vigilant with any new posts claiming to be the icon wanting to sell you some bitcoin.
She's even admitted, "I have no idea even what a bloody bitcoin is" so it's a safe bet any post in that realm, is not from her.
