Hackers use Waxahachie woman’s Facebook account for scamming scheme

WAXAHACHIE, Texas - A Waxahachie woman says she's gotten little to no help from Facebook after hackers stole her identity.

An elaborate scheme was used to reach Tiffany Pointer’s Facebook contacts to ask for money in her name. She wants to know why it is so difficult to get Facebook to stop hackers trying to deceive her online friends.

"I feel like it should have been simple," Pointer said.

Scammers who changed her Facebook email and password are sending direct messages to Pointer's friends using a photo of a $9,800 check with Pointer's name on it.

The message tells people a government program is "Supporting people financially, I got $9,800 from the program. If you want, I can send you a link to apply now."

"Just because you're trying to not work and get a job like everyone else, I have to work. You're out there trying to scheme people," Pointer said.

The scammers pretending to be Pointer tell people who respond to deposit $380 into an ATM in Ennis.

"I don't want my name to be Tiffany is helping hackers mislead someone to get money. That's why I called Channel 4," Pointer said.

What is also frustrating to Pointer is that she is locked out of her own account, with photos of her cousin who died a year ago.

"Now if I want to see him talk or hear his voice, I can't do that anymore because they took my photos from me," Pointer said.

When pointer tried to follow Facebook's guidelines for hacked accounts, she hit a series of dead ends. Her email originally associated with the hacked account can no longer be found.

"It says your search did not yield any results," Pointer said.

FOX 4 reached out to Facebook and did receive a quick response from a communications employee. About three hours after the initial response, we're told the company is continuing to work to resolve the issue.        

"It's not just I want Facebook back, I want my memory back of my family members," Pointer said.