MANILA, Philippines — Kapuso actress Kris Bernal turned emotional as she opened up that her social media accounts were hacked by an unknown group last September 22.
In an Instagram post by She Cosmetics, the actress announced the incident after her followers on Instagram suspected that her account has been hacked.
“Dear all, It is with a heavy heart for me to say that all my social media accounts (Including Instagram, Twitter, and personal Email) are hacked by a suspicious group this morning, September 22, 2019 (Sunday) 2AM. I am deeply saddened that my followers have to see abnormalities and visually graphic content of violence etc in some posts earlier. I kept retrieving it since 2AM that I skipped going to work to secure my other accounts,” she wrote.
“Please refrain from entertaining any messages from those accounts as it is still being investigated. And as a favor, please report to Instagram that my account has been hacked. If you can help me in any way, kindly leave a comment below,” she added.
In her YouTube channel, Kris got emotional upon announcing the news.
"I mean I only got like 1.4M followers. It's not as much as others but it took like how many years to get those," Kris said.
"I started vlogging and everything dahil gusto ko magkaron ng social media awareness. Gusto ko maging malakas sa socila media because alam ko pag TV talagang may viewers na talaga ako sa TV. Pero sa social media gusto ko ma-capture 'yong audience na 'yon," she added.
Reports said that an unknown group in Turkey messaged her on WhatsUp demanding her to pay $700 to $750 to get back her accounts.
In an interview with GMA News on Wednesday, Kris shared that GMA Network's social media team helped her retrieve her Instagram account, but her Twitter and e-mail accounts were still inaccessible.
Bernal recalled that the hacking began when she clicked a link and typed her account details and password in a message she thought was from Instagram.
"May copyright infringement daw ako so parang I have to report to them, parang I have to click this link... Nung nakita ko from Instagram, akala ko legit, so feel ko nung clinick ko 'yung link, tinype ko 'yung ano ko email ko and password ko. Doon na nagsimula na may lumalaban na... d'un sa password 'di ko na ma-log in," the actress shared.
Thus, for all Internet users, Kris gave some pieces of advice: "Ingatan niyo 'yung mga account niyo. Ingatan niyo yung passwords niyo. Kung ako sa inyo talaga gamitin niyo 'yung two-factor na authentication ng mga accounts ninyo kasi dahil d'un hindi na 'ko napasok at all ng hacker."