Facebook allowed me to claim a random business page

Zenduri · 24 Jun 2019 at 20:07

So.... logged into Facebook for the first time in a while and at the top its asked me if i wanted to claim an interior design business Facebook page as mine.

Out of curiosity I clicked yes and clicked through a few screens and now I have control of the page and have the business owners email, private mobile and their address. How mental is it that you can randomly claim someone else's business page, especially when it has nothing to do me or my name. I could trash the page, close it or whatever and Facebook thought hey... lets ask this random person if they want it.

I'm thinking of firing an email to the ICO?

What would GD do?

Thekwango · 24 Jun 2019 at 20:10

HybridX said:
What would GD do?

liquidate the business. direct all assets to your own bank account. order 50 pizzas for the owners address. sign the owner up for a furry dating site. have the owner 'swatted' (don't!) the list is endless. but we need videos and pics for authentication, whatever you decide to do

NoobCannon · 24 Jun 2019 at 20:10

Remove account from face ache and never log into that aids site again

ubersonic · 24 Jun 2019 at 20:19

HybridX said:
What would GD do?

1: Not commit fraud.
2: Not post to a public forum how I committed said fraud.

Zenduri · 24 Jun 2019 at 20:26

ubersonic said:
1: Not commit fraud.
2: Not post to a public forum how I committed said fraud.

lol how is this fraud. Dont be so stupid

Diddums · 24 Jun 2019 at 20:29

Well now you're gonna hafta rename yourself, buy a new phone and learn how to design interiors.

These are the ways of the chosen ones, refusing would be... Unwise.

Ergates · 24 Jun 2019 at 20:34

HybridX said:
lol how is this fraud. Dont be so stupid

You've just claimed to be someone you're not in order to take control of a companies facebook page - that Facebook made this easy for you is on them. That you decided to take them up on the offer is on you.

Zenduri · 24 Jun 2019 at 20:38

Lol the meth heads are out in force tonight

Diddums · 24 Jun 2019 at 20:40

HybridX said:
Lol the meth heads are out in force tonight

They're not wrong though. And insulting them isn't going to do your new interior design business any favours.

Deleted member 77746 · 24 Jun 2019 at 20:43

Diddums said:
They're not wrong though. And insulting them isn't going to do your new interior design business any favours.

<<< giggling! Go on prove it to us that you are now in control of their page....

Semple · 24 Jun 2019 at 20:53

I'd shoot the ICO an email. Don't make it obvious that curiosity got the better of you though. Just say something had popped up and before you could close it, it had allocated some business to you.

Clearly Facebook don't do due diligence when authenticating a business to a Facebook account.

Deleted member 77746 · 24 Jun 2019 at 20:57

Someone at Facebook made a mistake when running some code no doubt. Maybe see if someone else somewhere has been allocated a page for free.

Zenduri · 24 Jun 2019 at 21:02

Semple said:
I'd shoot the ICO an email. Don't make it obvious that curiosity got the better of you though. Just say something had popped up and before you could close it, it had allocated some business to you.

Clearly Facebook don't do due diligence when authenticating a business to a Facebook account.

I'm in the process of raising my concerns with the ICO and i have tried to report this to facebook but their support and reporting is so **** the only way i can get anything that isnt related to "Why don't my friends invite show up" is to raise a question in the support centre. Half their support is links to ****** guides that have nothing to do with the issues and anything related to security in the reporting is related to hacked accounts or other random stuff.

Deleted member 77746 · 24 Jun 2019 at 21:04

mrbell1984 said:
<<< giggling! Go on prove it to us that you are now in control of their page....

Quoted in case you missed it OP.

Nasher · 24 Jun 2019 at 21:09

That's a pretty big GDPR breach. Screw trying to contact Facebook support, go straight to ICO and let them deal with it. Probably not the first time it's happened and Facebook will sweep it under the carpet if you don't.

You haven't done anything wrong by just clicking yes on a box, Facebook have by offering you access. As long as you don't mess with anything...

Zenduri · 24 Jun 2019 at 21:09

Lol im not going to **** with their page (although technically i guess i have by taking it on)

Diddums · 24 Jun 2019 at 21:14

HybridX said:
Lol im not going to **** with their page (although technically i guess i have by taking it on)

I can understand why, starting a new business with all the uncertainty in the markets due to Brexit might not be as appealing as before.

Maybe you made the right choice, maybe you didn't. I guess you'll never know now

Zenduri · 24 Jun 2019 at 21:23

Urgh Cant find the right section on the ICO website to report this @Rotty when you found those documents in the street how did you report it to the ICO?

AHarvey · 24 Jun 2019 at 21:58

You may find the business was setup as a group page, the admin in charge has left facebook but the groups can stay behind. As they now have no admin they ask people in the group to take charge so that it can carry on.

I had this with a Stoke coding page, joined it, logged in one day and a pop up appeared asking me to take control so I did.

FoxEye · 24 Jun 2019 at 22:15

AHarvey said:
You may find the business was setup as a group page, the admin in charge has left facebook but the groups can stay behind. As they now have no admin they ask people in the group to take charge so that it can carry on.

I had this with a Stoke coding page, joined it, logged in one day and a pop up appeared asking me to take control so I did.

Does that mean you're now Lord Harvey, First Earl Baron Duke of Stoke or something?

It's only Stoke so you're welcome to it tho.