Latest news with #Roper
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
‘It haunts you': Hackers, hijackers lock up Facebook pages
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — If scammers take over your social media account, you're encouraged to with the Michigan attorney general's office. The A.G.'s Office of Corporate Oversight has had some success helping victims of the increasingly pervasive scam regain control of their pages. 'Happy news!' texted one victim who'd contacted Target 8 investigators for help. 'I got my accounts back today. Attorney General's office made it happen.' Account takeovers are hardly a new phenomenon, but the problem has grown significantly. Attorney General Dana Nessel's office told Target 8 it received 50 such complaints in 2022, 185 in 2023, 485 in 2024, and 127 in the first few months of 2025. In March 2024, attorneys general nationwide penned a letter to Meta requesting the company take 'immediate action to address the… dramatic and persistent spike in complaints … concerning account takeovers…. We refuse to operate as the customer service representatives of your company,' the AGs declared. Kelly Roper, a Grand Rapids business owner whose Facebook page was hijacked, is hoping Dana Nessel's office will come through for her. She filed a complaint with the attorney general's office at Target 8's suggestion. 'I didn't know that I could do that,' said Roper in a recent interview with Target 8. 'I reported the fraud to Facebook. Every time you do something, it's a dead-end. You cannot get to anybody. You cannot talk to anybody. It is so frustrating.' It's been ten months since a criminal took over Roper's personal Facebook page, and she's still unable to access it. Her personal FB account is tied to her business page, which makes it difficult to market her business. Roper owns Show Salon in downtown Grand Rapids. Fake posts selling cars and crypto 'Around August of 2024, I had a friend reach out to me and say, 'I didn't know that you were selling a car on Facebook,' recalled Roper. 'I said, 'I'm not selling a car. I don't know what this is.'' It was the scam that's targeting individuals, businesses, and celebrities everywhere. In Roper's case, it started with the fake car-selling post. 'I actually reached out to Facebook and told them, 'I've been hacked. This is not me,'' explained Roper, noting that friends and family reported it too. No response from Meta, the company that owns Facebook, said Roper. Then, her Facebook page was disabled, so she started up a new one. That was in January of 2025. 'Around February or March, I get this call from a friend that said, 'I don't know if you know this, but somebody's posting that you are selling crypto,'' Roper told Target 8 in an interview at her salon on Monroe Center NW. The new post included a picture of a certificate with CyrptoCurrency Certification Consortium across the top. Roper's name was on it. 'Congratulations to me,' read the fraudulent post. 'So, this just came in today after months and months of endless study and training. I'm happy to announce that I've been certified as an Expert Crypto Trader after undergoing the rigorous training which lasted for over 24 months.' Fortunately, Roper's Facebook friends were not fooled. 'Everyone who knows me knows that I'm not going to sell crypto,' said Roper. 'I would never get involved in something like that. But it started posting all over Facebook, and, I mean, everywhere. It looked so official with my name on it. So, I was pretty obviously upset. I own a business. I didn't want people thinking that I did this, because I didn't. It was not me.' Another post featured a picture of a smiling middle-aged couple holding Roper's fake crypto certificate and praising her services. 'Kelly (Roper) is God sent (sic). Our debit are (sic) paid fully. $180k,' read the fraudulent post. Roper said she followed the steps in the 'Recover your hacked account' section of Facebook's online help center to no avail. When she tried to set up another Facebook page, she said Meta rejected it. 'It said, 'We reviewed your account and found it still does not follow our community standards on account integrity,'' recalled Roper. 'Not sure what that means because this is a brand-new account. I have not posted anything on it other than a picture of me.' At one point, Roper scanned her face. No luck there either. '(The) Facebook page said, 'scan your picture.' explained Roper. 'So, I scan it, and I still get rejected. (They say) that I'm not me.' The salon has found a work-around though; employees post on Instagram, and it shows up on the salon's Facebook page. 'It haunts you' Still, Roper feels personally violated. 'It haunts you,' said the salon owner. 'There are pictures of my kids, my dogs, my family. You know, this is a big deal.' BlackCloak Digital Executive Protection, a Florida-based cybersecurity firm, told Target 8 that Roper's experience is far from unique. 'It is very difficult,' said Ingrid Gliottone, Chief Experience Officer at BlackCloak, in a Zoom with Target 8. 'We're seeing it across the board trying to get a hold of an individual at any of these platforms to be able to retain access. I would say it's probably about a 50/50 shot that if you have your account compromised… you will be able to regain the account, unfortunately. It's just a flip of the coin what the system will accept or not.' Gliottone blamed Meta's lack of responsiveness on workforce reductions. 'Prior to COVID, these larger platforms like Meta, for example, had a lot more individual staff to be able to review those requests for when you thought your account was being impersonated, or your account was compromised and locked out,' explained Gliottone. 'What ultimately ended up happening, we saw a lot of those individuals be removed from those positions due to economic conditions.' Fewer humans, more automation In 2022, Mark Zuckerberg, founder, chairman and CEO of Meta, announced the company was cutting 11,000 jobs. 'That's why individuals… are having more difficulty trying to retain access to accounts,' explained Gliottone, 'because they're going up against automated systems and workflows, right? They'll go in and they'll submit, and they don't have… the documentation needed, so the system will automatically spit it back out and deny it.' Gliottone said some BlackCloak clients never regained access to their accounts. But she urges you to keep trying; report the fraud to Meta repeatedly and have friends and family do the same. '(It took one client) almost nine months before they were able to regain (control). They just kept trying.' Gliottone said weak passwords are most often to blame when bad actors gain access to accounts. Passwords and dual-factor authentication She urges you to create complex, unique, passwords, get comfortable using password managers, don't use variations of the same password and always enable dual-factor authentication. Prevention is the best protection. 'Some of the ways we have our clients achieve this in a relatively easy fashion is to think of short phrases or sentences because those are easier to remember,' explained Gliottone, referring to password generation. 'For instance, 'I love to fly.' You start off with capital 'I' and then, 'love' and then instead of 'to', you can use the number '2', and then 'fly' and you end with a period or an exclamation point. Strong passwords, that's the number one most important thing. Then dual-factor authentication is the next piece.' Facebook's online help center has pages on how to or someone pretending to be you or someone else on messenger. Target 8 sent emails to Meta and Facebook requesting comment. We received no response. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Former MN State Patrol trooper pleads not guilty in deadly Rochester crash
The Brief A former Minnesota State Patrol trooper pleaded not guilty to criminal vehicular homicide and manslaughter stemming from a deadly crash in May 2024. Shane Roper, 33, was terminated from the patrol after department leaders said his "reckless" actions caused the death of 18-year-old Oliva Flores. A jury trial is tentatively set for early March 2026, with pre-trial motions set to begin in late February. ROCHESTER, Minn. (FOX 9) - A former State Trooper charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide pleaded not guilty, setting the case up for trial next year. Shane Roper, 33, is accused of causing a crash that resulted in the death of 18-yaer-old Olivia Flores in Rochester when he was allegedly speeding in a Minnesota State Patrol cruiser without its emergency lights activated. Court records show a jury trial is tentatively set to start on March 2, 2026. READ MORE: 'Reckless' actions of former MN trooper decried by agency leaders for fatal crash Big picture view The fatal three-vehicle crash happened near Apache Mall in Rochester, Minnesota, on May 18. Investigators say a Ford Focus was westbound on 12th Street Southwest when it turned south into the mall. The Focus was then struck by a Minnesota State Patrol cruiser that was driven by Roper, which was eastbound on the same street. Flores, of Owatonna, was a passenger in the Ford Focus and was killed in the crash. A Toyota RAV4 then ended up in the ditch after the Ford Focus was pushed into it. A total of six people, including Roper, were injured in the crash. Roper's employment with the Minnesota State Patrol was terminated in September 2024, with agency leaders calling his actions "reckless." READ MORE: MN State Trooper charged in Rochester crash that killed teen no longer employed Dig deeper The personnel file Roper reveals he had faced disciplinary action for four previous crashes before the fatal wreck. The file shows Roper was involved in four crashes between February 2019 and April 2023 before the crash outside Apache Mall in May that killed Flores. Reviewing his behavior before the crash, investigators found several instances where Roper drove at high speeds in just the three hours before he crashed into the vehicle carrying Flores. Roper was suspended for a day in two of the crashes and reprimanded for the other MORE: File shows MN trooper involved in 4 crashes before deadly Rochester wreck Just before the deadly crash in Rochester, investigators said he was driving at an excessive speed on a city street – apparently trying to catch up with a driver who had committed a minor traffic offense. The Source This story uses information from public court records and past FOX 9 reporting.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
No resolution reached yet in criminal case against ex-state trooper Shane Roper
May 29—ROCHESTER — A resolution has not been met in the criminal case against Shane Roper, the ex-Minnesota State Patrol trooper involved in a fatal crash in May 2024. Roper appeared virtually in court on Thursday, May 29, for another hearing. He is facing nine criminal charges in Olmsted County District Court, including felony counts of second-degree manslaughter, criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation, for his involvement in a fatal crash that killed 18-year-old Olivia Flores. The crash happened around 5:45 p.m. on Saturday, May 18, 2024, at the intersection of Memorial Parkway and 12th Street Southwest, near Apache Mall. Flores sat in the back seat of her friend's Ford Focus when the car was struck by a Minnesota State Patrol squad car, driven by Roper. During Thursday's hearing, District Judge Lisa Hayne said she would like to hear arguments on the change of venue motion "sooner rather than later." The next hearing, a settlement conference, was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Aug. 20. If the case is not resolved by then, Hayne said, both parties will present their arguments. In previous court documents, the defense submitted a change of venue motion due to the case's publicity. If granted, the jury trial would move to a different county whose residents would be impaneled as jurors. The court is looking at dates in early 2026 for a possible jury trial. Recap of the criminal complaint According to the criminal complaint, Roper quickly approached the intersection of Apache Drive Southwest, an area where the primary entry points to the Apache Mall are located. This area tends to have "very active traffic ... on a typical Saturday." When Roper's car was 400 feet from the intersection, the squad camera showed a green traffic signal for eastbound traffic. A larger SUV also traveling east entered the left turn lane to go onto Memorial Parkway Southwest, obstructing the view for vehicles turning onto Apache Drive Southwest, the complaint said. A Ford Focus with three passengers was in that turn lane and attempted to drive through the intersection. "Due to Roper's excessive speed (traveling 83 miles per hour and at full throttle up until 1.4 seconds before impact), when the Ford Focus started through the intersection, Roper was unable to sufficiently brake or maneuver his squad car to avoid the collision," the complaint says. Roper's squad car hit the passenger side of the Ford Focus, the vehicle Flores was in, while traveling at least 55 mph. The impact sent both cars east through the intersection to collide with a Toyota Rav4. There were two people in the Toyota. Witnesses told police that the oncoming vehicle was "flying." Witnesses did not see or hear emergency lights or a siren. According to the complaint, the Ford Focus driver sustained a liver laceration, a bruised kidney and numerous additional minor injuries. The front passenger sustained a broken pelvis, lacerated kidney and other minor injuries. The passengers of the Toyota Rav4 sustained physical pain from the collision. In the squad car, Roper had a ride-along passenger who sustained rib bruising and multiple fractures from the crash. Roper was also injured. Weeks after the incident, Roper confirmed to law enforcement that he was attempting to "close the gap" between his squad car and a vehicle suspected of being in violation of a traffic code, the Post Bulletin previously reported. Roper said it was not an active pursuit and that he was not paying attention to his speed, according to the criminal complaint. He told police he did believe his lights were activated.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Deputy finds drugs during Putnam County traffic stop
PUTNAM COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Kentucky man accused of driving recklessly past a Putnam County deputy was taken into custody earlier this month for drug charges. The Putnam County Sheriff's Office said Deputy James Hensel was helping a motorist on May 17 when he saw a Dodge Ram driving at a high rate of speed and 'making an erratic and unsafe lane change' near the Interstate 40 exit on Highway 111. According to an affidavit, right after the vehicle passed Hensel, two separate motorists spotted the law enforcement officer, pulled off the road behind his patrol car, and reported the pickup truck driving wildly, After he was cleared to pursue the Dodge, Hensel jumped in his patrol car, caught up to the truck, and performed a traffic stop, per the court document. PREVIOUS: Erratic driving leads to drug arrest in Putnam County When the deputy interacted with the driver — identified by officials as 42-year-old Ronald Allen Roper of Glasgow, Kentucky — Hensel reportedly noticed signs of possible impairment, including slow speech and the inability to concentrate or answer questions in a coherent manner. After instructing Roper to exit the truck and move to the front of the patrol car, the deputy asked the driver if he had anything illegal in his possession, but Roper said 'he did not know,' per the affidavit. According to authorities, when Hensel patted Roper down and asked him to empty his pockets, an uncapped and loaded syringe fell on the ground next to him. Body camera footage shows Roper trying to pick up the needle and the deputy ordering him to stop and leave it alone. 'When I questioned Mr. Roper he said that the clear substance in the syringe was 'speed,'' Hensel stated in the court document. Officials said a search of Roper's truck uncovered another syringe containing a clear liquid, a digital scale, and approximately 23.75 grams of a white crystal-like substance in a clear plastic bag. The Glasgow man was arrested and charged with felony manufacture, delivery, and sale of methamphetamine, along with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, authorities reported. 'It was uncapped, so that's obviously an officer safety issue, but inside that syringe was methamphetamine, so there was more going on than just erratic driving. Clearly this guy was transporting methamphetamine and driving with a loaded syringe. Clearly you only have that syringe loaded to inject into your body, so no telling what would've happened had he injected that syringe into his person,' Putnam County Maj. Brandon Tayes said. 'Even though he was from Kentucky, he was clearly visiting our area of the state, bringing that type of criminal conduct to our area. Any time we can get somebody off the streets and put in our jail that's doing that type of behavior is a good thing for all the citizens of our community.' The sheriff's office announced on Wednesday, May 21 that Roper was being held in the Putnam County Jail on a $61,500 bond, adding that he was scheduled to appear in court that day. As of Wednesday, May 28, Roper is still behind bars, according to jail records. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Man who jumped into Mississippi River during pursuit now charged
Editor's note: Video is from a previous story ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – A Festus, Missouri, man has been charged after attempting a daring escape from authorities following a bi-state police pursuit. According to the St. Louis County Police Department's probable cause statement, the pursuit began around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 22, on eastbound Interstate 70 near the Blanchette Bridge in Earth City. Police said officers attempted to pull over Jack J. Roper (age not provided), who was driving a Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck bearing Audi license plates. Roper swerved toward a police vehicle during the pursuit, police said. Officers eventually spiked Roper's tires. The chase went over the Chain of Rocks Bridge into Illinois and came back over the bridge back toward Missouri. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Police said Roper stopped on the bridge, got out the truck, and threatened to jump from the bridge into the Mississippi River. Officers attempted to talk Roper into surrendering, but he grabbed a piece of lumber from the truck and tossed it into the river before jumping after it. Roper left behind two people in the truck. One of the individuals told police they did not want to be involved and told Roper to stop multiple times. Police said they located Roper at the water treatment plant in Riverview, thanks to the use of the St. Louis Fire Department's boats. The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office charged Roper with two counts of second-degree assault, one count of aggravated fleeing a stop or detention, and one count of second-degree kidnapping. Roper remains jailed on a $500,000 cash-only bond. Online records did not show when Roper is scheduled to appear in court. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
