KUALA LUMPUR: Keem Ooi, a self-taught baker who had dazzled social media users with her imaginative cakes and desserts, found herself the target of hackers recently when she tried to get her Instagram account verified.
As a result, her Instagram account @keempossible, which at last count had close to 60,000 followers, had every single one of its images deleted.
Ooi, who is a piano and vocal teacher, gained prominence when her baking creations, featuring intricate hand-drawn patterns and designs, went viral recently.
Among the designs which captured the public's imagination were those of games characters such as Animal Crossings' Tom Nook and Pokemon's Pikachu, which she did based on suggestions by her children.
Ooi's creations rose in popularity during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, when both local and international Instagram users flocked to hit the 'follow' button on the 50-year-old's account.
Her Instagram account, which she had used since 2015 to share her baking creations and also to advertise her pay-to-view tutorial videos, shot up to more than 58,000 followers in the space of just a few months.
Given her newfound popularity, Ooi's friends suggested that she should seek to have her account verified by Instagram.
"I had been gaining followers steadily due to my postings. My friends told me that it should make me eligible for verification, which would earn me a 'blue tick' on my Instagram profile.
"As such, I began making the necessary steps. My friends who've had their accounts verified by Instagram told me that it could take between three and four months," she said.
Instagram allows users to request for the highly sought after 'blue tick' badge usually given to elite content creators, rising brands and such.
Users would only need to register with their full name and attach valid identification documents. Little, however, is known on the approval process to gain the 'blue tick'.
On Tuesday, Ooi received a direct message (DM) in her inbox which appeared as if it came from Instagram. The message said in order to get her account verified, she needed to click on a provided link to verify her email address and thus confirm the verification process.
Assuming that there was nothing out of the ordinary, Ooi did as instructed.
A happy Ooi then shared the news with her friend and showed her a screen capture of the DM from 'Instagram'.
Her joy quickly turned to apprehension when her friend, who has already been verified, told her that Instagram would not directly contact users on the process. Instead, the verified badge should appear automatically once her request has been approved.
With the help of her daughter, Ooi quickly logged out from her social media accounts and reset her passwords.
"When I checked my email there was an unusual login detected in Turkey.
"That was when my daughter checked my account from her device and saw that while my account, display picture and username was still there, all the images had been wiped out," she said.
Ooi then turned to her social media friends for help to report the account in order to gain access. She managed to get a new backup account to reconnect with customers who had ordered pastries from her.
"I learned that when your account is hacked, the only method for you to regain access is to have other users report the account," she said.
Ooi said the incident was a huge setback for her, as she had only just embarked on a business venture.
"The account is really important to me. I was just starting to create work relationships and just started my work with a brand as their collaboration partner.
"Thankfully, there are a few orders of pastries left which I had been receiving during the MCO, but my customers can still contact me via my backup account @keempossible02 or via Facebook, by searching keem.ooi," she said.
Ooi said it was odd as to how the hacker had managed to zero in on her request for a verification badge when she had previously sent the request directly to Instagram.
She had previously planned to create more tutorial videos on baking tips with the help of her daughter, Luna Lorrain who will be in charge of the editing.
Both mother and daughter now, however, have to focus on getting back her account and all its deleted images.
So far, most of her followers have been helping Ooi by reporting the account to Instagram. The social media platform has in turn taken down the username and account.
"Hopefully, after the reports made by my friends, I can regain access to my Instagram account. Someone told me of their own similar experience and how they were able to regain access to the account after a week," she said.