Sir: Social media did not have much attraction for me throughout the time I was preoccupied with doing my duty in the mass media. But my foray into the Facebook, late in November 2017, proved to be most explosive. Within six months I had garnered ,5000 friends.
This popularity was at huge price. Account hackers were merciless. The first attacker cloned Pastor Mrs Folu Adeboye, wife of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Church of God. Seeing her on Facebook, asking me to be one of her millions of friends, took me to Cloud Nine. Less than a week after I accepted the offer, a message came from ‘Mummy G.O.’ that I should support an orphan in serious need. That it was Mummy G.O. that made d request, was all I needed to quickly send N30,000.
Soon after, Daddy G.O. was himself requesting my friendship. My joy had no limit. I erupted with so much effusion in praise of the great leader, on Facebook, that a friend, Dr Tosin Awolalu, had to draw my attention to the fact that ‘Daddy G. O’ could be a clone of Pastor E.A.Adeboye.
As if to confirm Tosin’s premonition, another message soon came from ‘Mummy G.O’ that I should augment the N30,000 sent for the orphan girl, as her needs had persisted. Then, it dawned on me that I had been conned. It was a fake Mummy G.O. that I had been chatting with all along on Facebook.
Many more devious devices were also foisted on me, with many still succeeding. But when one device abysmally failed, its author went wild, threatening to publish my nudity before every person of substance on my friendship list on Facebook.
I didn’t wait to find out where he would get such pictures. I knew it was time for me to hearken to the advice of my niece – Mrs Wuraola Hannah Olugbemiro – and temporarily close my Facebook account.
That was two years ago. I have since reopened my account. But to my chagrin, within the past one week, Facebook has shown me three different photo postings, as memories of things published about two years ago.
I had never seen those pictures in my life. They were posted by hackers who took over my Facebook account, when I thought that I was on sabbatical and that my account was resting.
One December, I met Dr Moses Omoniwa, inside a church in my hometown. He said it was on my recommendation that he got involved in a transaction, only to be swindled of a huge sum of money on Facebook. As at that time, I had not returned to d account. It was a hacker at work.
This week alone, my Abuja based friend, Barrister Titus Ajina, and a townsman, Duro Oniemola, have each posted two warnings. Namely, that my Facebook account stands in present danger of being hacked.
Indeed, it’s not a message I should take lightly. Only last week was the account of my nephew, Segun Badaki, a don with a university in the north, recovered from hackers.
Hacking on Facebook is rampant and unacceptable. Those who warned me only advised that I should not validate any additional friendship request from themselves or anybody else.
I think the Facebook should not stand aloof, unconcerned.
The giant social medium should make routing out hackers from its system a preoccupation. It must not be said that Facebook can build such a humongous edifice, without the ability to guard its gates against hackers, who diminish its reputation on daily basis.
