With rising costs hitting Manchester’s hospitality industry hard, one bar manager has a strong warning for other venues after he was recently hacked on Instagram – and held to ransom by the hacker.
After receiving a message from an account that shared mutual friend with his, Neil clicked a link and entered his details thinking that he was replying to Instagram.
He then saw that his account had been blocked, before receiving a number of messages and Whatsapp calls from a hacker who asked for £400 in order to restore the account.
A message from the hacker, sent to Neil’s personal Whatsapp, read: “Hi. I’m sorry. I hacked your account, I’m doing this for money, if you want, I can sell it to you for a small fee.”
Neil Garner, founder of Stockport’s cult favourite cocktail bar, Cherry Jam, told The Manc: “We received a message in late August telling us that we had violated a code and, as the message came from an account with mutual friends and colleagues on Instagram, I stupidly entered my details.
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“Our account then got blocked and a few days afterwards I received messages from a hacker, followed by several video calls on WhatsApp from people demanding that we pay them money to get the account back.
“We wrote to Meta and reported the issue, but we have had no reply since.”
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Image; Supplied
Image; Supplied
Neil continued: “We opted not to pay the hacker, of course, but this has had a massive effect on the business.
“As Instagram is our most important marketing tool, we had gone from 6,500 local followers and supporters to zero overnight. Our sales dropped by a massive 30% the month we lost the account and our ticketed event sales also took a huge hit.
“With rising wage costs, energy bills, cost of living and an unsettled economy this has been a huge hit to our business, we will get through, (we hope), however it has had stopped any plans for growth and made it much more expensive to get the word out about upcoming events and promotions.”
Follow these tips to avoid getting hacked on Instagram:
Always use a very strong password.
Make sure that the phone number and email linked to your account are up to date.
Use Instagram’s two-step authentication and try to use a different email address for each Instagram account that you run.
Ignore “phishing” messages and learn to spot the fake ones. If you get ANY emails, texts or especially DMs including links, err on the side of caution and DO NOT click. Even if they’re from a friend, as they may have been hacked or their account duplicated or claiming to be from Instagram or Facebook. If in ANY doubt, ignore and delete.
Avoid linking Instagram with other social media accounts and other third-party apps where possible.
Follow Cherry Jam’s new Instagram account at @Cherry_Jam_Again for details of forthcoming events – such as themed bottomless brunches and a special recession menu with noughties prices at the Stockport venue.
Feature image – Cherry Jam
News
Wigan Warriors make history after yet another Super League Grand Final victory
Danny Jones
Wigan Warriors have made Super League history after winning yet another Grand Final following what can only be dubbed a spellbinding season.
Beating Hull Kingston Rovers 9-2 in what was their 13th Grand Final, not only have they now lifted the trophy for the seventh time but they have also become the first team in the Super League era to win the hallowed quadruple.
To make things even more special, the landmark evening in Manchester saw them match the same achievement of winning all four major pieces of silverware 30 years on from their famous Wigan predecessors in 1994, and are one of just a handful of teams to ever do so.
Matt Peet’s side signed off on an incredible year after winning not only the Challenge Cup and World Cup Challenge but by lifting the League Leaders’ Shield and retaining their Grand Final.
Star-man Bevan French put them ahead in the game before Harry Smith gave them breathing room before half-time and despite Hull KR answering back with a penalty in their first-ever visit to the final, Adam Keighran’s kick helped make sure the Warriors made it over the line.
That’s a couple of Challenge Cups, two lots of League Leaders’ Shields, a World Cup Challenge and a pair of successive Super League Grand Final wins in just 99 games over eight months as head coach for Peet too. Generational.
While the likes of Bradford and St Helens have won all four prizes up for grabs over the course of two seasons, a record like this is simply sensational and well and truly puts them up there as one of if not the greatest rugby league side ever – as if they weren’t in the conversation already.
You can see how much it meant when they lifted the trophy:
Things look to be only getting better for the Cherry and Whites under the Wigan local and they seem to be more fitting of their Warriors title under his watch than arguably ever.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, winner of the inaugural Rob Burrow Player of the Match award French said: “It’s been an emotional week. We knew history was on the line, with the chance to be the first to win all four in a calendar year.
“This one just meant more. The club went above and beyond to surprise me by flying my brother and uncle over, so this is special. I might not ever get to feel like this again. I’ve got to take it all in.”
Winning the quadruple in the modern era doesn’t just beckon Wigan Warriors into the history books, it could signal the start of a new period of dominance as was seen in the 1980s and 90s. Are the Saints about to make way for a new Northern super-power?
You can watch the highlights from the 2024 Betfred Super League Grand Final and see how Wigan completed the quadruple down below.
Wigan Warriors are now third in the table of all-time Super League Grand Final winners too.
— Barefoot Spooky Bartender 👣💀🍹 (@barefoottiki) October 10, 2024
“Be assured there won’t be 14408mph winds, hurricane force winds or overnight temperatures of 404°C.
“It is being looked at and hopefully sorted asap.”
BBC Weather shared: “You may have noticed some data issues on our app and website. We are working hard to fix it quickly. Sorry – please bear with us.
“In the meantime here are Thursday’s weather headlines: -Colder, clearer air moving in -Rain and drizzle in south -Blustery showers near east coast”
And national treasure Carol Kirkwood said live on air: “We are having a technical glitch at the moment. It’s showing wind speeds far too fast, in fact, hurricane strength and that is not the case at all.
“Please don’t be alarmed. We are aware of it and on it.”
At the time of writing, the BBC Weather forecast service is still predicting hurricane force winds for the UK. Eek.
BBC issues statement after UK forecast shows ‘hurricane force winds’ up to 14,000mph
Georgina Pellant -
15th November 2022 
