"My account has been hacked," Oliver-Kerby announced on this morning's AM show on Three. Photo / Facebook
"My account has been hacked," Oliver-Kerby announced on this morning's AM show on Three. Photo / Facebook
If you follow AM presenter Bernadine Oliver-Kerby on Instagram, you may be wondering why the former Newstalk ZB newsreader and Child Cancer ambassador is trying to solicit money from you.
"My account has been hacked," Oliver-Kerby announced on this morning's show on Three.
"Someone is trading, purporting to be me, saying 'here's the bank account. You can get $50K in two hours. Look, I've done it.'
"So they are impersonating me, using my account, trying to solicit money from people and that is my big concern."
To clarify, AM host Ryan Bridge asks: "So you look like some kind of crypto-queen?"
Oliver-Kerby and fellow AM hosts, Ryan Bridge and Melissa Chan-Green put forward a word of warning to Instagram and Oliver-Kerby's hacker, who they refer to as Hacker Dave. Photo / Facebook
Co-host Melissa Chan-Green reveals she was confused to see, as she scrolled through her Instagram stories, some unusual content from the presenter.
"It popped up, here's Bern talking about Bitcoin and I thought, what!?"
In an attempt to clear her name, Oliver-Kerby tells the camera: "If I was earning $50K in two hours, I would not be here," she says before slamming her hands down on her presenting desk. "Trust me."
Asked if she's tried to contact her hacker, Oliver-Kerby says she did when she received a notification that her account had changed email.
"This person had hacked my account and taken all my details and made them theirs. So my account is now linked with their telephone number and their email account. So I am completely in the dark."
Oliver-Kerby goes on to suggest the show share the hacker's email account on the screen so viewers "can all email him saying what a douche he is."
Bridge agrees: "Let's name and shame."
But her hacker hasn't remained silent. When she asked him to give her account back, he agreed to, only if she made a video saying she'd "made $50K in two hours".
She replied: "Dude, you must be an idiot because I read the news and no one's going to believe that, you clown."
On a more serious note, Oliver-Kerby reveals how violated the ordeal has left her feeling.
"I feel like I've been burgled. It's awful. The other thing is, I have contacted Instagram that many times. There is no safe place to go to say 'someone has stolen my identity and they're trying to solicit money from people using my image. And that's my biggest concern.
"There is no kind of panic button saying freeze this account so no one loses money. It's a total violation. if I had two minutes with him ..."
At this point, Bridge and Chan-Green put forward a word of warning to the social media giant and Oliver-Kerby's hacker, who they refer to as Hacker Dave.
"Listen here, Instagram, and whatever your name is, Dave. You've just met the Bern-meister. And the Bern-meister is fierce. She is going to burn you to the ground. She's angry. She's not the crypto-queen. She's going to come for you," Bridge said as he wrapped up the morning's show.
And Oliver-Kerby makes a final call out to Instagram: "Instagram, hi. Can you respond to one of my 8000 emails? I really want to hear from you."
At the time of publication, Oliver-Kerby's Instagram account appeared to be deactivated.
