A report was received that the Instagram account of the Haus of Harlow store on Warbreck Avenue, Aintree had been hacked and was being used to receive cash purportedly in exchange for goods that would then be collected from the store. This was done without the store’s knowledge and the goods were not available for collection.
Detective Inspector Holly Chance, from the Merseyside Police Economic Interventions Team, said: “We believe the social media account was compromised and while efforts are currently being made to close it down, we would urge people to avoid any correspondence on Instagram page with the profile page ‘harlowhaus1_’ for the time being. Instead, all contact with the store should be done in person.
“This offence has left members of the public out of pocket and has caused significant distress to the shop owner who has been left trying to explain the situation to those disappointed customers, all while trying to run a legitimate business and make an honest living.
“We are appealing to anyone with information about the incident to contact police so that we can bring the offender to justice.”
If you have been affected by this incident please report the matter to ActionFraud, the UK centre for reporting fraud or cyber crime offences and state that your case is linked to incident NFRC181002590126. Action Fraud can be contacted on 0300 123 2040 or via https://www.actionfraud.police.uk.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Merseyside Police social media desk via Twitter @MerPolCC or Facebook Merseyside Police CC. You can also call 101 quoting incident reference 18400019955 or contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously, on 0800 555 111 or via their online form at: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/give-information.
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