SWINDLED
I was desperate to be an influencer & thought I was a mega star when I hit 100k – I was so wrong, it cost me hundreds
The situation got worse when the hackers began messaging her with demands
A NEW MUM has been left 'bed-bound' after online hackers stole her social media account.
Holly Fleet boasts thousands of followers on social media as she proudly shows off her stoma bag and advocates for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
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The 30-year-old journalist and content creator has endlessly raises awareness on the condition after being on death's door two years ago.
Holly underwent an emergency colostomy surgery meaning she now wears a stoma bag to collect her poo.
Now she advocates for others with stoma bags online where she had amassed over 100k followers on TikTok in the process.
But it was all taken away from her when she clicked on an email from hackers.
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The email seemed to come from TikTok letting Holly know she had been selected for the blue tick verification, but it wasn't as it seemed.
"I can not put down in words how distressing this whole incident has been for me.";
Holly Fleet
She told the DailyStar that she had £317 in her creator account when the attack happened as she had recently withdrawn cash, but had expected more money to hit her account in February.
"I received the email on January 23 but opened it in the early hours of January 24. The email said I had blue tick verification on TikTok and I just needed to login for it to appear on my account," she explained.
"I filled in my username and password and I then received a text from TikTok with a verification code to put into the form. Once I did that I then got an email saying my TikTok account email had been changed.
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"At that point I knew I had been hacked.
"I went to try and login to my TikTok only for it to say the account no longer existed."
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Not only did she lose her hard earned cash, but also a circle of supporters.
She decided to contact TikTok as soon as she realised she had been scammed.
Holly's distress was only about to worsen as the hackers made contact with her on WhatsApp via a suspected 'burner' phone.'
She that the scammers messaged her demanding £200 in exchange for her account - something she did not want to comply with.
Holly decided to go to police after they contacted her - but they revealed there wasn't a lot they could do to track the scammers down.
On top of that, she found it difficult to gain back access to her account, adding that it was a 'lengthy' and 'difficult' process.
"I can not put down in words how distressing this whole incident has been for me," Holly revealed.
"I have been left bed bound with depression from not just the hackers taking my account but by the lack of help from TikTok to get it back."
Although she now has access to her account again, Holly is warning others of the dangers of scammers and wants TikTok to do more when it comes to security.
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"Having an email that only sends back automated responses is not good enough," she said.
Responding to Holly's story, TikTok say it's committed to protect the safety of its community.
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