What Happened? ArtPrize Facebook Account Appears To Have Been Hacked

ArtPrize is a popular Art competition with people from around the world coming to Grand Rapids Michigan to show off their amazing talents and compete for a grand prize.

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It appears that their Facebook page might have been hacked.

Was The ArtPrize Facebook Page Hacked?

This morning while I was having coffee with my wife Lindsey she asked If I saw the ArtPrize FaceBook page has changed its name.

I knew that ArtPrize had called it quits after 13 years and according to MLive, The organization was giving its creative, technological, and communications platforms to a new partnership between Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., the city of Grand Rapids, and Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University.

I didn't think that meant they would change their name.

This is the notification that my wife Lindsey got.

It said that the page had changed its name from "ArtPrize" to "Accounts Disabled"

Were Other ArtPrize Accounts Changed?

I went and checked out other accounts associated with ArtPrize to see if the same thing had happened.

I then checked out the ArtPrize website to see if anything changed with there

That site also looked to be ok.

This Is What I Saw On The ArtPrize FaceBook Page

Disclaimer... I'm not an IT expert but to be safe if the page was hacked I wouldn't visit it

but if you do DON'T CLICK ON ANY LINKS, It could be a phishing attempt 

What Is A Phishing?

Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers.

It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, dupes a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message.

The recipient is then tricked into clicking a malicious link, which can lead to the installation of malware, the freezing of the system as part of a ransomware attack or the revealing of sensitive information.

What Happened To The ArtPrize Facebook?

When you go to the ArtPrize page on Facebook this is what you see.

There are also multiple posts that appear to have started Sunday morning around 8 am that had random links for you two click on that were most likely phishing attempts.

UPDATE as of 12:50 am: The multiple posts with links that appeared to be a phishing attempt are gone but that Facebook page still is called "Accounts Disabled"

Grand Rapids has been known for ArtPrize for the past 13 years but there are so many other great things that Michigan is known and famous for.