Derbyshire boss issues warning after hackers shut down social media

Carlo Laurenti, who owns and runs Derbyshire Wedding and Events, clicked a link after receiving a notification on Facebook saying that his page had been impersonating another.

Within seconds, his computer screen filled with various images, including indecent images of children, and Carlo lost access to his business page on Facebook.

“I was having very graphic images coming on, worst of all even child porn. I was absolutely lost, trying to unplug things but the damage was done.”

Carlo got in touch with his technical support team, and due to the nature of the images which had been displayed on his laptop, immediately contacted the police.

Detective Sergeant Steve Judge, who leads the Cybercrime and Digital Investigations Unit which dealt with Carlo’s case said: “Sadly we are seeing criminal hackers using indecent images of children to ‘cover their tracks’ after gaining access to business pages on social media.

“Once they have gained access to an account through the victim clicking a link, they will look to take any personal or financial details from the page, even buying advertising, before posting explicit images to get the page shut down by Facebook. In Derbyshire we have worked with Facebook to help victims of hacking to regain access to their accounts.

Carlo added: “All it takes is that moment of distraction, being caught under pressure. If in doubt, just don’t click.”