Summerhill Market's Instagram account was hacked this week, and they were asked to pay the hackers a collective $1,000 USD to get the it back.
The grocery store has multiple locations in Toronto, and the brand's Instagram account has an impressive following of 16.8K.
A store representative told Narcity they became aware of the hack on March 14 at 8:59 a.m..
The brand received an email notifying them that theIr passwords and other security information had been changed, and the security link that would allow them to dispute the changes was broken.
Shortly after receiving the initial email, the brand received a text from the old number associated with their account and was demanding money. However, they didn't see the message right away.
Text message chain.Summerhill Market
"We thought it was spam at first, so did not go in to read it until the Wednesday," said the store representative.
The hackers asked for $600 USD in Bitcoin for access to their account.
Text message chain.Summerhill Market
"We did decide to take the chance and pay them. We understood the risk. But we're willing to take it, at least just the one time."
Unfortunately, the hackers didn't hold up their end of the bargain and asked for an additional $400 USD.
"Once they asked for an additional $400 USD, that's when we cut things off."
The store representative says their main concern with the issue is that this can happen in the first place.
"Brands rely heavily on social channels to engage with their communities. It's so much more than a platform to post pictures on. It's supporting small businesses, it's customer service, it's education and inspiration – the list goes on."
Summerhill Market has now gotten access back to their account from Meta, and according to their representative, they filed a police report this afternoon.
