Building up a cliental on social media is not an easy task; it’s a process that can take years. The owner of Grififntown’s Allo Vélo knows all too well how long networking takes and how quickly it can all get taken away.
Lamar Timmins, the owner of the bike shop and cafe, fell victim to the latest cryptocurrency hack on Instagram, losing most of his account’s access.
While speaking with Daily Hive, Timmins says he and his staff “tried everything Instagram advises to do to regain access” to his 10-year-old account.
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“I personally put in all of my blood, sweat, and tears growing our brand on Instagram,” he admits. “It feels like someone took my keys and locked me out of my business.
This specific networking hack — also known as phishing — involves a message from an Instagram connection (whose account is also hacked), asking for help.
Below is the seemingly innocent request from an Instagram connection asking for help, to which Timmins obliged, thinking he was helping a friend.
Lamar Timmins/Submitted
Timmins says once he provided the screenshot to the scammer, he lost all access to @allovelomtl and its sister location, @velolifestyle.yvr, in Vancouver.
“I started my bike shop-cafe ten years ago in Montreal, with my mom as my business partner,” says Timmins. “I branded my business from zero to 9k followers, using mostly my own photography and content.” He says he’s a self-taught photographer and editor and spent money on ad budgets on Instagram and thinks it’s “baffling” that Meta (the conglomerate that owns Instagram) doesn’t have better solutions or support for hacked business accounts.
“The hack literally messaged all our followers, and I have no way of warning people or letting them know we are not phishing them for crypto,” continues Timmins. The hack also posts spam on the account, highlighting how “crypto mining is the best profitable investment now in Canada,” and boasting about how much profit you can make in the caption.
The annoying posts are also un-deletable.
The owner of the charming cafe and bike shop hybrid says Instagram has been “crucial” for the local business. “Ultimately, we really wanted to encourage more Montrealers to ride their bike in the city, whether for leisure, community, or sport with bikes built for life,” he says of his networking initiative. “Instagram allowed us to share our story, our growth, our products and our name in Montreal and across Canada.”
Timmins says the popular social networking site has helped his business make connections across the world and that on a “purely business level, Instagram is our voice, marketing and selling tool.”
Allo Vélo is a beautiful space in Griffintown that proudly serves the local community with bike repair services, rentals, and coffee.
View this post on Instagram
Timmins admits he’s “tried everything” to regain access to the account and has had weeks’ worth of problems with the platform’s two-factor authentication, which only the hacker now has.
The hacker set up Meta’s two-factor authentication app so it’s “essentially impossible” for Timmins to go beyond the typical recovery code by email or phone.
View this post on Instagram
Timmins says they usually use Instagram to highlight upcoming events, such as Allo Vélo’s partnership with the giant extreme sports event Jackalope, which takes place next month at the Olympic Stadium.
“We’ve put in so much effort to organize our part of the event,” says the owner. “Our goal was to announce it the first week of July, but now it’s as if we have no audience.” He says it used to be so easy to announce in one click and reach an audience of over 9,000 followers, who “already know what we do and who we are.”
Unfortunately, that is no longer the case due to the bothersome Instagram crypto hack.
Daily Hive has reached out to Meta Business Help Center for more information and tips on how Timmins can regain access to his clients, followers, and photos on his decades-old Instagram account.
Timmins and the Allo Vélo team also caution social media influencers and businesses to be cautious in responding to seemingly innocent messages from network connections.
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