KENTWOOD, Mich. — Tracy Pagel gets frustrated each time she tries to log into Facebook.
“It doesn’t allow me to do it,” said Pagel during an interview with FOX 17 on Sunday.
According to the Kentwood mother, a hacker took over her personal account on the social media platform last weekend.
They locked Pagel out of a lifetime of memories, but she says the loss of a page tied to it devastates her more.
“I was crying because,” said Pagel. “I don't want to cry now, but literally it was like 13 years, gone.”
In 2011, Pagel created “PreciousLilAngel - Fighting Strong for Maddie” in honor of her daughter’s battle with a rare brain cancer and genetic disorder.
READ MORE: Kent Co. family shares rare brain cancer recovery story, hopes to help others
More than 19,000 people follow the page, each of whom offer the family prayers or seek encouragement from them.
“We have a lot of people that support us,” said Pagel. “I actually talk to parents out of country, in different states, about their kids battling the same cancer she did. They ask how she is doing and want information for her oncologist and her treatment, so that’s like a personal page for that to help others as well.”
Pagel managed to make one last post about the issue through Facebook’s business app, before the hacker fully kicked her out. However, she worries whoever did this may try to take advantage of their followers.
Facebook has not responded to Pagel’s requests for help or FOX 17’s inquiries.
“I’ve tried to do all these different things and [it] just keeps saying disabled or you have no access to this page,” said Pagel.
Identity Theft Resources Center says it saw a 1,044 percent increase in account takeover inquiries from 2020 to 2021.
Last year, the number of account take reports jumped 288 percent over the previous year.
The nonprofit organization suggests people use a unique, 12+ character password, activate two-factor authentication, and secure the email address associated with an account to protect themselves from a hack.
“Keep your picture somewhere else, just lock it down, extra security,” said Pagel. “I don't really know, I thought I took all the right measures.”
Pagel believed something like this would never happen to her, but agrees with the advice. She hopes to eventually regain access to “PreciousLilAngel - Fighting Strong for Maddie”.
“How can someone just do that?” asked Pagel. “Like for one, steal my personal page, but steal her cancer journey page? It doesn't make any sense at all.”
