Dog groomer urges caution after social media scam

A Sussex dog groomer with nearly 700,000 social media followers has warned about the dangers of online fraud after she said she was targeted by potential scammers.

Caroline Donoghue, from Polegate, was contacted a few weeks ago via her agent to appear on what she believed was a real podcast.

After arranging the logistics, Ms Donoghue was then asked to grant access to her Meta Business Suite - an online platform to help users manage content creation, marketing and advertising - so the bookers could schedule a livestream for the podcast.

Once access was granted, the bookers went silent on the day they were meant to record and Ms Donoghue realised they were impersonators.

The dog groomer believes the goal of these scammers is to take full control of social media accounts and remove the true owner's access.

Social media consultant Gareth Cairns says that gaining access to a person's Meta Business Suite leaves the true owner very vulnerable.

Mr Cairns said: "The consequences of them getting access to your Facebook page is that they could take down your page, and maybe change the name of your page to show something else, to push out their message to your followers.

"What they can do in some cases is possibly blackmail people as well, and try and gain money off them to get access back to their page."

Ms Donoghue says that, while it was clearly "really risky" to hand out her details, this wasn't apparent at the time.

"I did have a little glimmer and thought, 'that's a bit strange'...but I thought it's come through the agent, it's not going to be an issue," Ms Donoghue said.

She added: "They know how important these accounts [are] to us as influencers. It's not just something we do on the side - it pays the rent."

This is not the first time she has been targeted by scammers, she said.

Two years ago, Caroline said her business TikTok account was hacked and she lost more than 300,000 followers.

As things stand she still has access to her account and has not yet noticed suspicious activity on it.

However, the rogue email address still has access - meaning it could be taken over at any time.

"They've got a lot of data, and they're either going to be doing something with that or they're not and I just don't know," she said.

She has tried contacting Meta for assistance but not heard back.

Alongside earning a set sum as a creator, Caroline's Meta account is also key to income she makes as a brand ambassador.

Tony Neate, CEO of Get Safe Online, added: "Even if it [the offer] comes to you via a trusted source you have to double check. Fraudsters are always trying to be one step ahead."

A Meta spokesperson told the BBC: "We take the safety and security of our community seriously, and we encourage everyone to create a strong password, enable two factor authentication and to be suspicious of emails or messages asking for personal details."

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