INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis crime podcaster has his Facebook back following an investigation by Indiana’s I-Team.
“See, here’s my page,” Marc Hoover said, the voice and creator behind Catch My Killer, a podcast about unsolved murders and missing people. “It’s back.”
His “Catch My Killer” podcast has half a million downloads, and Hoover has spent years building his Facebook page.
Yet in October 2023, hackers took over his Catch My Killer Facebook page and started posting random videos.
“People were saying, ‘What does this have to do with crime? This is stupid.,’” Hoover said. “They think I put that stuff on there. They have no idea that somebody scammed my page.”
Hoover tried appealing through Meta, but nothing worked.
“You have no way to contact Meta,” Hoover said. “You can’t contact Meta because if you try to contact them, they don’t respond or they don’t have a customer service.”
Hoover contacted Indiana’s I-Team, which contacted Meta on Hoover’s behalf. After multiple emails to Meta, Hoover finally got his Facebook page back from the hackers.
“I’m very grateful that they did it,” Hoover said. “But I don’t think I should have had to go to you for help to get them to contact me and put me on the news.”
Hoover said he almost gave up. “The only reason I got this page is because of you and your team,” Hoover said. “Thank you for your help.”
He is not alone. Many people report being wrongfully locked out of their Facebook and Instagram accounts, including for alleged rule violations.
The group People Over Platforms Worldwide launched a petition calling on Meta to improve its processes. It currently has more than 67,000 signatures.
A 2025 report from the Identity Theft Resource Center showed social media account takeover was the most common form of identity misuse.
“This is one of the most common complaints we hear about people who have their social media accounts taken over, and it’s really pretty simple,” James Lee, president of ITRC said. “It’s just not their business model. They don’t have user support.”
Lee said many social media accounts get hacked when the owner receives a direct message with a link. When you click on it, the hackers can install malware onto your device.
“It’s going to take over your account, and you may or may not even be aware of it, or it will lock you out immediately,” Lee said.
Lee said one of the best ways to protect yourself is to set up multi-factor authentication on your social media accounts.
“Use those tools that are available to you, along with locking down your privacy settings and not clicking on links and verifying when you have a contact that’s out of the ordinary,” Lee said.
Hoover is now working on getting back in touch with his 67,000 followers. “Hopefully it can generate some tips for law enforcement,” he said.
He says if your page gets hacked, do not give up. “Keep going, keep trying,” Hoover said. “If your page is that valuable to you, you should keep pursuing it.”
Indiana’s I-Team is working to get a response from Meta.
Hoover also fell for an account recover scam and lost $700.
Experts advise against searching online for terms like “account recovery,” “scam recovery,” or “tech support,” as these searches frequently lead to secondary scams.
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