'A rough day': Howell bakery known for extreme creations falls victim to TikTok scam

Jennifer Eberbach, Livingston Daily
·2 min read
Emily Mazaris, co-owner of M Street Baking, shared a video message after the bakery's TikTok account was hacked and temporarily inaccessible.
Emily Mazaris, co-owner of M Street Baking, shared a video message after the bakery's TikTok account was hacked and temporarily inaccessible.

HOWELL — TikTok is an important marketing tool for M Street Baking Co. in Howell. So, when ownership realized their account had been hacked, it seemed a heavy blow.

M Street has worked hard to earn more than 12,500 followers, yet found itself the victim of a scam. The bakery — owned by Nancy, Stephanie and Emily Mazaris — received "a very convincing email from 'TikTok' to verify the account and get (a) blue check mark."

The mark verifies an account is authentic.

"I was excited when I opened the imposter's email about the blue check mark verification," owners wrote in an emailed statement to The Daily on Tuesday. "The excitement quickly faded once I realized that I had fallen for the scam. Then panic because we recently launched nationwide shipping and those were our customers. They had active orders and needed to communicate with us."

The scammer changed the account's password, email and phone number.

The bakery has used TikTok to stream live videos, organize giveaways, and promote their small business at 117 N. Michigan Ave. A recent video for April Fools Day of employees taking bites of cakes made to look like sponges has been viewed more than 398,000 times.

One of the best-selling milkshakes at M Street in downtown Howell.
One of the best-selling milkshakes at M Street in downtown Howell.

The hacking prompted owners to create a backup TikTok account in case they couldn't regain access to their main account.

"Today has been a rough day for us," co-owner Emily Mazaris said in a video message posted to the backup TikTok account.

Fortunately, on Saturday, the business was able to recover their page at tiktok.com/@mstreetbaking. Ownership received a message from TikTok about a suspicious log-in from another country. TikTok put a lock on the account, and M Street was able to regain access after confirming ownership.

But the experience has been educational, and they hope to share what they've learned with others.

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"Social media has opened up the world for many people who are limited to their towns or even homes. People can virtually visit our bakery from all over the county and place orders. That is so cool," owners wrote.

"(But) the biggest downside of social media is the safety risks of scammers. I would like to remind everyone the importance of taking a few extra seconds or minutes to really inspect messages that seem too good to be true or that play on your fears or emotions. Technology is improving at a rapid pace and, with that, cyber crime is also more sophisticated."

— Contact reporter Jennifer Eberbach at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com. 

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: 'A rough day': Howell bakery known for extreme creations falls victim to TikTok scam