Introduction
It was about a month ago when I discovered someone had accessed my Facebook ads account. Fortunately, they didn’t get into my Facebook proper. HOWEVER, what they did do was advertise their products using my account and my credit card that was connected to that account.

Getting locked out of my own account
Was there a time when you locked yourself out of the house? It kinda felt like that, except the person was inside eating my snacks and watching TV while I was running around the house trying different ways to enter.

I know a little bit about computers. Usually enough not to get into too much trouble. This isn’t always the case though. But I don’t know how they got in. They were able to change my email, so if I wanted to change anything, like my password, the link went to the new email address. Not mine.

So who was the person and what were they selling?
I have no idea who the person was. It was a relief that they were only selling leather bags and nothing too dodgy. With some more investigating I discovered they were based in Vietnam.

I was able to get into my account. However they still had control with making ads. Very expensive ads that quickly hit the limit on my credit card.

Facebook and Banks
I need to say that initially Facebook was great. We got onto it pretty quickly. However not before my credit card maxed out. Fortunately the limit isn’t too high. But high enough not to be happy to pay it.

The bank actually got in contact with me and said there was unusual activity. So I did cancel the credit card. But it was just a little too late. However I was able to dispute the charges, so at least I wasn’t paying interest.

In the dark
After I finally got back into my Facebook, I beefed up my security and go rid of any programmes I didn’t use that may have been the cause of the hack. I was cleaning house. I created additional safe guards to sign into my accounts. And I was certain I got rid of the unwelcomed house guest. Even though he had eaten a lot of my snacks.

However – my ad account was now disabled because of the hack and there was also a bill of almost $1000 still waiting to be paid on my account from advertising thief.

Over the next few weeks nothing seemed to happen and getting in contact with Facebook was proving incredibly tricky. For some reason all they were interested in was for me to pay off my bill. But I wasn’t going to do that.

I can only imagine how many of these cases they have to deal with everyday. And I was happy enough to have a bit of a break from Facebook advertising. But the debt on my credit card remained and days turned into weeks and before I knew it – a month had passed by.

My Drip Drip Drip Tactic
The only thing I could do was to keep trying to contact Facebook. But there are no phone lines or addresses to visit. The Help Centre was often a production of going around in circles clicking online help and articles to read, doing this and that and getting nowhere.

But I’m persistent and just continued to send messages in the hope someone would respond. Then today I finally had a breakthrough. I spoke to a real person from Facebook and I think (touch wood) everything has been sorted for the good… including the credit card debt.

Conclusion
Over the past month or so I have had two events that could have costed thousands of dollars. The white car had leak coming out of an expensive part that needed to be fixed before getting the WOF. There was also lights flashing on the dashboard from a faulty sensor. Fortunately I knew a guy who was able to fix this for me at a fraction of the cost it would have been. I won’t say Brendan’s name because I don’t want his head to get any bigger.

The second thing was this Facebook credit card. I think this too has been sorted.

I think there’s a lesson(s) here to learn… I think.

Also we found Kath’s cat that ran away from home months ago. He seems happy enough to be home. Much more than last time. The dogs are very interested in their new roommate. Harry isn’t sure what to think. But that’s nothing new. Frankie isn’t thrill to be sharing his mum with the sharp claw bully.