Woman gets help from NBC 5 Responds after fraudsters hacked her Facebook account selling fake Taylor Swift concert tickets
A few weeks later, someone came knocking at Susan Balmer's door. "And then it dawned on me. Oh my God, she's at my house for these Taylor Swift tickets," she said.
Susan Balmer says she's been trying to get help from Facebook since April. That's when a hacker started using her account to sell fake Taylor Swift concert tickets.
"To know that my account was being used to fraud other people was horrific," Balmer told NBC 5 Responds.
She reported the fraud through Facebook's website, but Facebook never took the hacked page down.
A few weeks later, someone came knocking at Balmer's door. "And then it dawned on me. Oh my God, she's at my house for these Taylor Swift tickets," she said.
The woman Googled Balmer's name and address when the tickets she paid for were never delivered. Balmer wrote to NBC 5 Responds asking for help. We wrote to Facebook several times, but the page was still active, selling the bogus tickets -- until Illinois State Sen. Dan McConchie saw the story.
"I was watching your show. My wife, she said, 'Hey, you've got to see this,'" said McConchie.
He got in touch with NBC 5 Responds, asking for Balmer's contact information. He wanted to help.
"So in this case, I was able to reach out to someone here in the state who I knew who did work with Meta, the parent company of Facebook," said McConchie.
He asked if anything could be done to help Balmer get the hacked page taken down.
Within a matter of days, the hacked page was disabled. The fake concert tickets are no longer being sold under Susan Balmer's name.
State Sen. McConchie said if you find yourself in a similar situation and can't get any help from Facebook, reach out to your local elected officials, specifically, your state representative and state senator.
"Many times they are working with these companies in some other way or know somebody that is. Often we're able to help," McConchie explained.
NBC 5 Responds has been in touch with Facebook numerous times, before and after Balmer's story originally aired. As of the time this story was published, we have not yet heard back.