Nyra Banerjee Opens up on her Facebook Account Getting Hacked; says, ‘I’m the Voice to all those people who might fall for this’

Actress Nyra Banerjee who has enthralled the viewers with her phenomenal acting skills over the years recently got her facebook account hacked. In this difficult times of Covid-19, a lot of people are being victim of online hackings and Nrya being the voice to all those people takes us through her story and asks fans to be more careful and vigilant. 

Nyra shared, “During this lockdown, a lot of people are figuring out new ways and methods to earn money and a lot of people are becoming victims of a lot of fake activities. Alot of hacking on Facebook and Instagram pages is happening on verified accounts or on those accounts that have a very high following.

She added, “On 17th May, I got a message from someone on my Instagram saying that they want to run their ad campaigns on my page. They wanted to pay me for that and I agreed and asked them about the process. Now, I'm an actor and I have a facebook page which has about 3 Million followers and I use my page only to promote my pictures, to put up videos and to connect with my fans. I am not a businesswoman, I'm not promoting any product or launching any product and hence I was not aware that there is something called, ‘business account’. So the message I got on  Instagram, where in the anonymous hacker wanted me to give them access to my business account. They ensured that they did not need any access over my page. But, because I'm an Actor and not a businesswoman, I did not know that giving access to your business account could be very harmful. So they instructed me for certain steps of how to go to my business settings and add them up which I did and then they hacked my page and account both. 

Facebook team has been very very good, I came to know about the hacking on 25th May because I was not even accessing the account. One day on 25th May, I happened to check my Facebook about the ads, whether I've been added or any campaign has been run, basic follow up. And I see that both my page and account are missing.”

Nyra further added, “Instantly, I got in touch with Facebook team and believe me within two days, they recovered my account and my page. I'm really glad and grateful that the Facebook team, in times of Covid-19, when things are very difficult and slow have managed to help me regain access to my account and my page. The hacker had completely deleted all my content, pictures, videos and even changed the name, everything and promoted their products on my page. But thanks to Facebook team and thanks to some very important people, one of them is Sarti who used to handle my Facebook page, Devang Shah a lawyer & talent manager, Mr. Vikas Kalantri who is also an Actor and owner of white leaf entertainment and Gold awards . These 3 people have been really helpful to me and have guided me to the right route through this and of course most importantly, the Facebook team.”

She shared, “Everybody knows that when Actors are on shoot, they would not really check their emails and stuff. So they would miss out on these phishing & hacking mails but now since everybody is at home and people are vulnerable, we are looking at earning from home. So, we are falling for this and this is the advantage or a mode of business that these hackers are thinking that they could use. Now, the new method which they have done is that they will shoot you emails with respect to copyright infringement. They will send you a message regarding content infringement which will say, ‘If you do not click on this link and rectify, we will delete your account.’ Do not fall for this. Please check the email and immediately consult with your account manager or content creators or reliable sources, people you know that are in law or who know about copyright or who understands all these things. You should always check how authentic the emails look. Do not press any link, if you really think that you have any content that is infringing any copyright, you ask on the email itself,  what content it is and ask them to send a snapshot of that.The second method is where the hacker tries to gain admin access to your business account and then he takes over your account and your page. 

The third one is the business advertisement. Now, of course people are learning new ways to earn money and there are people who are trying to sell their products on Facebook page, verified account. Yes, only verified accounts and people with huge following are targeted. So here, if anybody ever approaches you that they want to run ad campaigns or something, please make sure that you ask for some kind of proof. Some proof that facebook has appointed this person or some kind of permission letter, any kind of Id proof that will prove that this particular person is actually working with Facebook. Do not blindly believe and give any kind of access, they will always say that they do not want any access to your page but you need to be vigilant and be more careful. So these are the 3 methods which I know of how people are trying to hack.

A lot of actors and content creators are losing their handles during the lockdown. I am the voice on their behalf and I am the voice to all those people who might fall for this. It’s important to be vigilant, observant and to cross check many times through your legal advisor or through your manager who has access to facebook, who has access to show whether this is genuine or not. I’ll really like to thank the Facebook team for being so proactive.

This is going to be a fresh approach to my facebook page and from now onwards I’ll be posting new photos and this will be a complete new look to my fb page. The positive side of what I see in this is that I got knowledge about how business accounts work. I’ll be more careful looking at new features of fb, understanding them, reading about it on google, being more observant. When you start reading about these things, you become more knowledgeable and you know you can't be fooled. Do not be impulsive, always read and find out.”

Nyra also recently sang a song which she released on her Youtube page. Speaking about it, she shared, “I sang a song called Amay Bhashaili Amay Dubaili Re. My mother taught me. This song is written by Jasim Uddin, it's a very old song of a boatsman who is pleading to God to protect his boat in the storms. So I sang this song as a tribute, as a dedication to all those people who are victims of the Amphan Cyclone.”