ORLANDO, Fla. — A Central Florida church employee said his Instagram account was hacked, and someone is asking for money in his name.
Now, he’s having trouble getting his own account shut down.
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Elijah Eldredge likes to share posts about his life, interests and his church.
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“I love fashion, and I love just posting all about what we’re doing here and what God is doing at Alive Church,” he said.
But recently, Eldredge said someone posing as a friend online convinced him to give up information that allowed them to hack into his account and take it over, “posting things about Alive Church trying to pretend to be me.”
They posted a video recently saying he got a new car, that even convinced his own grandmother it was real.
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But other posts, Eldredge said, are aimed at tricking people out of money with posts about online investments and messages to friends to borrow money. Some friends even sent money.
Eldredge has filled out online reports with Instagram over the past month, filed a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime website and had around 100 friends report the account to Instagram. But the account is still up and running, and he worries that because of his affiliation with Alive Church, people might be trusting and give money to the wrong person.
“It not only puts a bad representation of my name, but a bad representation of Alive Church and what we’re doing here,” he said.
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Eldredge has started a new Instagram account and is trying to notify his friends.
Channel 9 has reached out to Instagram to find out what else can be done, but haven’t heard back.
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