Chichester shop owner 'gutted' as hackers strike

Johnny Jones, who owns The West Street Deli by the Market Cross, had his personal Facebook page targeted by the cybercriminals who posted dodgy weblinks and stole £1,600 from bank accounts linked to his page.

Following the incident, Facebook took the decision to suspend Johnny’s account which, because it was linked to the Deli’s page, meant his business page was also suspended.

He lost 5,000 followers and feels he has wasted thousands of pound after spending money on advertising to help boost the page’s following.

“I was gutted,” he said, “I’d built it up over six or seven years and it was a very big following for a small business. It had all been so stressful because I had been losing trade and I was unable to launch new products.

"It was stressful and frustrating."

He said Facebook’s response was ‘not acceptable’ adding: “It’s impossible to communicate with Facebook, especially if you don’t have a profile. I sent probably about a dozen emails in two weeks.

“They are so big I don’t think they care.”

Since the incident, Johnny has had a huge response from the community with more than 900 people showing their support by liking his new Facebook.

He said: “We’ve since got a new page up and running. It has really helped and people are very understanding and really trying to support us. I’ve had the page back up and running and so far I’ve got about 900 likes.

Johnny has now given this advice to fellow business owners: “Have a back-up account for the future. I have now got someone else as admin on my business account.”

You can find the brand-new Facebook page for The West Street Deli here: @TheWestStreetDeli

Facebook has been approached for comment.