Manchester restaurant Northern Soul issues warning about ‘clever’ social media scam

The founder of Northern Soul Grilled Cheese has shared their experience with a social media scam, in a bid to help other independents avoid it. 

Dan Place, founder of Northern Soul, explains he was targeted by a sophisticated scammer over the weekend that ‘ripped the heart out’ of his business.

Speaking to the MEN, he said the hacker took control of all the Northern Soul social media platforms and is now demanding cash in return.

The hacker was demanding £2,500, and Dan said that even if the business could afford it – after the difficult year in hospitality – they still wouldn’t hand it over and ‘give in to blackmail’.

The restaurant have spent the past seven years building their social media channels, which Dan now describes as a community. 

Currently he is waiting for an investigation from Facebook, who also own Instagram and Whatsapp, but in the meantime has warned others of how the hacker operated so other businesses don’t fall victim.

He said: “I would hate for this to happen to any other Manchester business, it’s so painful.

“I feel like it’s ripped the heart out of the shop.”

The Northern Soul Instagram account received an Instagram message from what appeared to be an official account, warning them of a copyright infringement on background music in a video post.

The message then directed the restaurant to a form where they could dispute the claim or agree to take the video down.

After filling in the details, Dan received suspicious WhatsApp messages demanding money, to then find he had been lockdown out of the accounts.

He said: “I’m super on it with security and scams, but this was done very cleverly. They were asking for such a small thing – it wasn’t money or anything, it was just taking a post down.

“It’s the sort of message you get fairly regularly from Instagram.

“When I got that message on WhatsApp and realised what had happened I just thought to myself ‘Am I in a movie’ – it didn’t even feel real.”

Northern Soul is now aiming to get back their 25,000 followers by Christmas on their new profile which you can follow here.

One new follower will receive unlimited grilled cheese for life and will also be able to choose a local charity that Dan will donate £1,000 to, instead of paying the money to the scammer.

Dan said: “All we want for Christmas is our followers back. Everyone on those accounts are friends of the businesses – it’s a small following to some but it’s so potent to us.

“It’s huge. The Instagram account has kept us going this year. It’s our community.

“Our followers know how hard we’ve worked – seven years has gone into that and someone’s taken it in seven minutes.

“We’re barely holding on financially. What else can 2020 chuck at us?”