The week before Christmas, my Facebook page was unexpectedly suspended.  I don’t know the reason.  I just know that around 4:00 a.m. on the day it was suspended I was notified that the phone number associated with my page had changed to what appeared to be a foreign number and the page was suspended because I was told “I” was using another person’s number.  I learned this because I happened to wake up to use the bathroom just as the notification flashed across my phone screen.  I read the notification, used the restroom and got back into bed.  I wasn’t going to deal with it then.  Seconds later I received a text from my credit card company with a fraud alert, asking if I had made several purchases amounting to several hundred dollars in Facebook advertisements.  It said my card had been blocked and no more purchases could be made until I called them.  The card was blocked, so I opted not panic and to go back to sleep and deal with it later in the morning.   I awoke at my usual time and decided again to put off dealing with anything until after my spinning class at the gym.

Resolving the issue with the credit card was simple.  When I called they asked if I had purchased any Facebook ads starting with October 31st to present.  My response was that I HAD purchased an advertisement that ran from the beginning of September till the 7th of October for a fundraiser that I and other demonstrators sponsor every year for breast cancer.  I told my credit card company that anything purchased after October 7 was not me.  The Fraud Department opened a credit dispute and within two weeks my account was credited and I was not held responsible for the charges.  It’s always been easy to refute a charge I haven’t made with my credit card company. A BIG reason why if you are going to shop or do anything online, you should use your credit card and not a debit card.  Other’s may disagree.  My opinion only.

Regaining access to my Facebook page…not so easy.  As a matter of fact, I will probably never regain access to it.  I started the page in 2009.  It had photos of my children, my vacations, my grandchildren, family, friends…you name it .  It was like a running record of my life from 2009 to 2023. I’m not so worried about my lost photos as I have them stored on my computer. But, I was in touch with old high school mates since our 4oth class reunion in 2015. I liked hearing about their growing families and their adventures.  I was connected with friends I had made while I was in the military in the 80’s in Germany and acquaintances from trips I had been on in Europe in 2006, 2012, 2017 and 2019.  These were connections with people in Canada, Europe, Australia, United States and Malaysia.  Although our encounters were brief and while on vacation, I believe we connected on these trips for a reason.  We had things in common and I enjoyed keeping up with them. And hopefully, they enjoyed keeping up with me.  For me it was a way of staying connected with my people that weren’t local.  For me, Facebook was fun!  I’ve reconnected with many, but many others are wary of accepting friend requests from individuals they know they are already friends with for fear of it not being a legitimate request.  They are afraid of getting hacked and I really don’t blame them!

In case you were wondering, Facebook does not have a customer service number you can call if you are having an issue.  I will repeat…no, I will SHOUT!  FACEBOOK DOES NOT HAVE A CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBER YOU CAN CALL WHEN YOU HAVE AN ISSUE!

BEWARE the number you might find when you Google “Phone number for Facebook customer support”!!

How do I know, you ask? Well, I Googled it, of course! And, I called it.  The young man that answered was very kind.  I explained what happened and he said he could help recover my page.  I said that my credit card had been compromised at the same time, and I asked if they were related.  He never did answer that, but he did say my account had been disabled because spammers had taken it over and my friends were getting messages supposedly from me trying to get them to send money.  He suggested I download an app called OneDesk on to my phone that would help him recover my page. I did, but he couldn’t get it to work. So, he suggested  we put it on my desktop computer.  The app, in case you don’t know, gives someone else access and control of your computer.  Without thinking, I did.  It worked.  I waited with baited breath for him to reclaim my Facebook page when he asked if I did online banking.  He said I needed to log in to see if any money had been deposited or debited from my account.  Little hairs went up on the back of my neck and I said, “Well…I don’t feel comfortable doing that.  Why don’t I call the bank instead?”  My 36 year old son was here at the time and he was hearing our conversation.  He said, “Don’t do it, Mom!”

The scammer got a little aggressive and said, “No, you have to do it on your computer!  What are you worried about?  Facebook isn’t going to take your money!”  I CALLED my bank.  No money in.  No money out.  I told the person on the other end of the line what the bank had said.  He came back with, “Ok then, log into your Amazon account and buy a $100.00 digital gift card for the play station store.  Don’t worry, you won’t have to pay for it.  Facebook will reimburse you the money.” I hesitated and should have hung up

Dummy me!  I purchased a digital gift card that I can’t use! It was redeemed almost immediately by the scammers.  And I always took pride in the fact that I could not ever be easily fooled.  I was also feeling smug in that my Facebook account had never been hacked.  I guess it could have been worse.  I could have given them access to my bank account.  How dumb of me! How could I be so desperate to regain control of a stupid Facebook page!  After hanging up the phone, I immediately deleted the app from both my phone and desktop and began the long process of changing passwords on various websites just in case.  Lesson learned, I guess.

Not only did I lose access to my personal page, but I lost access to my Fancy for Stampin Facebook page as well.  That’s the page where all of my blog posts, events, and projects I’ve created and shared appeared.  Oh, I can follow  the page, I just can’t post to the page or create an event to the page.  I can look at it though.

I never did regain access to my personal page or my Fancy for Stampin page.  So I have created new ones;  both personal and othewise if you would like to follow me there.

My new stamping page is Fancy for Stampin’ Paper Crafting Community

My instagram account is the same:  FancyforStampin

On to why we are really here.  I made this cute little Valentine card  using the current BEE MY VALENTINE suite in the January to April Mini.  We will be making it in my upcoming stamp club. I hope everyone enjoys it.

 

 

 

It’s a really simple card.  I stamped the bee image onto a piece of basic white card stock using  Tuxedo Black Memento and Daffodil Delight ink.  The wings are stamped in the same black and Petal Pink.  I used the Bee Builder punch to punch it out.  The bee’s antenna are stamped directly onto the Petal Pink Circle.  I also double mounted the smallest heart stamp and the small triple heart stamp on the same clear block to stamp diagonally across the front of the card base starting in the bottom right corner using Sweet Sorbet ink.  I am providing a link for a project sheet here.

On the inside I added a piece of Basic White card stock and stamped the large heart image in Sweet Sorbet ink on the bottom right corner

There really isn’t much else to say about it. So until next time…

Happy Stamping!

P.S. If you choose to leave a comment on this post, please don’t say anything negative about my mistake.  You can’t say anything new that I haven’t already said to myself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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