Sup Dogs owner loses access to business Facebook page after personal account hacked

GREENVILLE, N.C. — Sup Dogs owner Bret Oliverio relies heavily on social media to promote his restaurant, and other businesses.

“As a whole social media is incredibly powerful, I need it for businesses. For our Facebook page we’ve raised 10s of thousands of dollars in charitable causes throughout the year,” says Oliverio.

As of July 11, 2024, Oliverio cannot access his business page, because his personal Facebook account was hacked.

He says, “I have a front row seat, I’m watching somebody posing as me, attempting to steal money from people and it’s maddening and crazy.”

Oliverio had two factor authentication turned on, which is when you login to Facebook, you receive a code to a device you choose after you input your password. News 12 spoke with cybersecurity expert David Malicoat and he recommends not using the text message option when doing two factor.

“That’s not as secure as it once was, the thread actors know how to get between that and they can intercept that and login as you and take over your account,” says Malicoat.

Oliverio has tried to get help from Facebook, even following steps online from the social media giant on what to do if you get hacked. He says he has not received any response.

“I’ve sent Facebook certified mail, I’ve contacted the North Carolina Department of Justice (NCDOJ), I’ve had probably 300 people on my Facebook notify them that the account has been hacked, but they’ve done nothing,” said Oliverio.

Malicoat says in these types of situations, sometimes the only thing you can do is start over.

“It would seem that you would have some type of customer service, I can honestly say once they have you and once they have your data, it’s a situation they’re kind of bigger than what anything is,” said Malicoat.

Oliverio adds, “it’s enough to sort of just make you lose your mind, but I just hope nobody loses a single cent.”

As of July 11, 2024 the hacker has not posted anything to the Sup Dog business page, just Oliverio’s personal account. News 12 reached out to Facebook, and the NCDOJ, and we did not receive a response from either.