A Facebook hack of a prominent community organizer led to fraudulent posts, financial scams and confusion, including lost money.

Kevin Keone Okuma, who organizes the Copa Farmers Market, said his personal Facebook account was compromised on April 4 and life has been overwhelmingly stressful ever since. Hackers used his profile and connected pages to post fake listings and solicit money from his friends and community members.

“I noticed there was a post on my Facebook [account] that said I had an uncle that was sick and I was trying to help him sell some items to offset medical costs,” Okuma told InMaricopa. “People were also messaging me saying they were sorry about my uncle and asking about the items. I was confused.”

The posts escalated into listings for high-value items that were never for sale, including vehicles, campers, watches and other expensive goods. At the same time, hackers changed his password and authentication methods, so he was unable to access the profile.

“People in Maricopa had sent deposits,” he said. “And then they reached out to me … and I was like, ‘No, no, no.’”

Okuma said at least one person lost $3,000 before learning the posts were fraudulent.

The hacked account has since been taken down, but the impact continues. The original Copa Farmers Market page, which was linked to his account, is still active and now contains spam videos and unauthorized content.

“I had reached out to Facebook and Meta, but they were just not helpful at all,” Okuma said. “[The hackers] changed everything. They changed the password, the phone number, my email, my date of birth, everything.”

He has created new accounts since to try rebuilding communication with the community, including a new personal profile and a relaunch of the farmers market page — CFM Copa Farmers Market.

Okuma said the experience has been overwhelming and emotionally draining.

“I’m so upset and I just hope [the hacker] is no one I know,” he said. “It’s just been so hard to even get a hold of someone [at Meta].”

He added the incident has changed how he views online trust and security.

“Even with double authentications and two-way factors, it feels like there’s still no protection,” he said. “If something sounds too good to be true, it is. Reach out to that person individually before sending any money.”