PITTSBURGH — Put side-by-side, the real and fake Facebook pages for Lelulo’s are nearly exact copies. They’re so similar that hundreds of customers entered a giveaway on the fake page and handed over their personal information.
“I know hundreds of people have messaged me saying, ‘Is this you? Oh no, I gave my credit card information. What do I do now?,’” said Lelulo’s owner Patyn McCune. “If they’re doing this to multiple people, they’re making out pretty well.”
The restaurant has thousands of fans and followers, and is known for its promotional giveaways. Around the time of the Super Bowl, someone created the fake page, created a fake giveaway and asked for customers’ credit card information. Many of them offered it up. One woman didn’t even notice hundreds of dollars was missing until it was too late.
“It’s frustrating. You go to the page and there are pictures of me on there, my actual self. Over 1000 people have reported the page and Facebook refuses to take it down saying, ‘It doesn’t go against community standards,’” McCune said.
Another popular restaurant, Hoffstots Cafe Monaco, reported a fake account was created in its name.
THERE IS A FAKE ACCOUNT pretending to be us. DO NOT ACCEPT a friend request from this person. Also, do not click any links from this account! They have been reported and the account is removed.
Posted by Hoffstots Cafe Monaco on Sunday, February 7, 2021
Channel 11 reached out to the State Attorney General’s Office to see if they’re investigating this or any of the complaints. These are often federal crimes, but it can be very difficult to track down who is behind the fake profiles.
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