A Dunfermline business has issued a warning after their personal and business accounts were hacked.

Mac Group, a joinery and home improvement business based in the city, had its Facebook page targeted by scammers yesterday (Thursday).

Chris MacPherson said that the business page was running alongside his partner’s account.

He said: “One of her 'friends' contacted her yesterday saying she’s got a new phone and 'Could you help me out with this code?'

“They gained full access to everything so that was her personal account, all my business pages, her Instagram the lot, and she’s now lost everything. We’ve lost everything.”

None of their financial details were impacted, as they don’t keep any of that information on their social media accounts, but the business page had built up a good reputation.

“But we’ve now lost all of that which is obviously a bit of a pain.”

The hackers gained access to their personal and business accounts.The hackers gained access to their personal and business accounts. (Image: MAC Group/ Chris MacPherson)

The business is now having to build it all back up again.

Chris said: “I’ve had to re-establish the business account, so I’ve set up a personal account as well, and basically I’m just trying to build it back up again.”

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He reported the problem to Facebook and was given access to the accounts but after trying to change the email address and mobile phone numbers that weren’t his or his partners, and provide credentials that showed they were the true owners of the accounts, they were locked out.

Both Facebook pages have now been fully shut down.

Chris went on: “So there’s no way of gaining access to sentimental photos, like pictures of the kids when they were babies, or from the business side our full contact list which was about 6,000 contacts.

“Anytime we were needing something shared or had a promotion on, obviously we had 6,000 points of contact that had an ability to share it for us, so that's quite a big exposure range.

“Now obviously we’re worried that it’s going to have an adverse effect on our business with regards to obtaining work because theoretically, as from about an hour ago, the company didn’t exist because we’ve had to start everything again.”

He wants people to know that if they receive a message claiming to be from his business that this won’t be them.

“I just don’t want people thinking that we’re trying to scam people," Chris said. 

"If anybody has fallen for it, it’s not us. I don’t want it affecting my reputation, so yeah there’s a lengthy list of potentials there that could close my business down and slander it.”