"It's quite disturbing": Woman receives messages from dead husband
A widow has been left feeling "distressed" after receiving cryptic messages from her husband's Facebook account, two years after he died.
Jenny Singe said her husband's social media account had become active earlier this year, when online hackers began messaging friends and family and posting on her husband's timeline.
"It's quite disturbing really," Singe told Nine News.
Jenny said most of the posts were cryptic advertisements, further distressing her friends and family who were still in mourning.
"My husband died almost two years ago and I am still grieving," she said.
"I keep getting Facebook messages from (the hackers) and the first time was very distressing."
Jenny attempted to contact Facebook to get her late husband's account taken down permanently, but said the social media platform was incredibly "unhelpful".
"I have been through enough with losing my husband and now they were asking me to prove that he was dead," she said.
"Facebook wanted me to provide them with all these details including his death certificate and all these other additional things."
"Yet the hackers can continue on their merry way. I just thought, 'Why do I have to do all these things when I have done nothing wrong?'"
"It's just not good enough."
Protocols are currently in place for how to handle Facebook profiles of deceased people, however they must be either set up by the account holder prior to their death, or a family member must submit a death certificate online to the company.
Family members can also memorialise an account which will prevent anyone from logging into it and will keep it visible on Facebook - however, it must be applied for with evidence of death.
A Meta spokesperson told Nine News that the matter was being investigated.
"We extend our heartfelt condolences to Jenny Singe for her loss. Meta is committed to protecting our community from hackers and the distress they cause, and the matter is being investigated," the spokesperson said.
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