For eight months, Internet users have been feeding on the publications on Constance de Vibraye's social networks.
The owner of the Château de Cheverny, in Loir-et-Cher, had found a way to keep a link with visitors around the world, and to try to boost their morale at the height of confinement.
Flower bed of tulips in full bloom, installation of new statues in the park, breathtaking view of the hundred-year-old trees, life in the castle outside the general public ... Cheverny's Instagram account, a monument that inspired Hergé for the castle of Moulinsart, had ended up winning over 23,000 subscribers.
Read also: Lego statues, bronze colossi, jazz orchestras… Cheverny has the art of hosting
This success, unfortunately, led to its loss, since Sunday evening, the @chateaudecheverny address was hacked.
“We were in the process of requesting certification of our account address.
But a hacker took control of the conversation and in four minutes, he changed the account name, the associated email and the phone number, preventing us from any action to recover the account, ”
says the owner.
"He then contacted us via WhatsApp to brag about his action and ask us how much we would be willing to buy him back."
The couple refuses to enter into this blackmail - and the criminal begins by selling the profile, before renaming it several times, in order to drag the 23,000 subscribers with him.
I thought, obviously wrongly, that heritage was a sanctuary for this kind of practice
Constance de Vibraye
"I thought, obviously wrongly, that heritage was a sanctuary for this kind of practice,"
continues Constance de Vibraye.
We are not the first to suffer this type of blackmail, but we will not be the last either ”.
The Vibraye have filed a complaint with the Cheverny gendarmerie.
They still hope to be able to recover their account - and the 23,000 subscribers patiently collected over the past 5 years - thanks to the intervention of the Instagram and Facebook teams, or the Ministry of Culture.
"
For lack of anything better, we will start from scratch, thanks to a new Instagram account @ chateau.cheverny
", they conclude.
