AWARE HAIR

AWARE, through the lens of , an extraordinary creative and AWARE customer herself 🌊

Hannah Pittel is the Founder of and a talented SoCal-based photographer with a beautiful eye for light, texture, and detail. Thank you for capturing our products so beautifully

Story time: how my mom and I’s small business got attacked.

We want to be transparent about what happened, what we learned, and what we wish we knew. Hopefully this helps fellow founders, entrepreneurs, and small business owners because this could truly happen to any of us.

Last week, what began as “Instagram” threatening to suspend our small business account turned into a phishing attack that led to our account being disabled, my mom getting blackmailed, and us having to file an FBI report.

What made it worse was how difficult it was to reach Meta support through official channels. We hit wall after wall. Automated responses. Dead ends. Silence when the clock was ticking.

And the truth is: we did not get through because we followed the rules. We got through because our friends and community stepped in. People shared our story, sent advice, made intros, advocated for us internally, and helped us reach real humans when standard support was completely unreachable. Our account would likely still be gone without the people who chose to care and act. Side note: HUGE thank you to the people that helped, messaged, and supported us.

This experience also taught us how vulnerable small businesses really are online, so here are a few things we hope every founder does now:
• Turn on two-factor authentication
• Make sure your account has a backup email
• Never trust an email or DM just because it looks official
• Double check sender, logins, and urgent threats
• Keep admin access limited
• Review connected devices and login activity

And a few things NOT to do:
• Don’t waste precious time hoping it resolves on its own
• Don’t assume followers, business history, or even verification will get you real support
• Document everything, secure everything you can, and escalate immediately

Small businesses are the easiest targets because we’re moving fast, wearing too many hats, and trying to do everything ourselves. That is exactly what attackers count on.

We’re so grateful to have our account back, but we know not everyone will be so lucky. This experience reminded us that behind every brand account is a real person, a real family, and a re

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