Helen Breimer poses with her daughter Shelby in this family photograph. (CBC)Shelby Breimer couldn't believe it when she found out her dead mother was promoting colon cleanser on Facebook.

Breimer, 15, said someone hijacked her mom's account.

"I thought it was really scary to know that they can just go in and do whatever they want to her page. I mean, it was a shock to see it there," said Breimer, of Truro, N.S.

The teen's mother, Helen Breimer, died of breast cancer nine months ago.

Shelby Breimer checked her mom's Facebook account recently and discovered someone had updated its "status" feature. In a fake testimonial, Helen Breimer was touting the weight-loss benefits of CleanseProX, a colon-cleansing product. An ad linked to a company in China.

"It was shocking to see that somebody had actually gone in and replaced her status with something that she's never even used before," Shelby Breimer said.

Sherry Reid, who took Breimer in after her mother died, said the young woman was devastated.

"Moving out of her home and moving in with my husband and I, and adjusting to her new environment, and then, all of a sudden, this happens," said Reid.

Shelby Breimer said she was shocked when she saw an update on her deceased mother's Facebook account. (CBC)Breimer said her boyfriend's parents contacted the company, but representatives never lived up to a promise to remove the advertisement and post an apology.

Breimer said no one at Facebook returned calls on her behalf. She logged into her mother's account herself and removed the posting.

The experience has made the teen much more wary about the internet.

"It's upsetting," she said. "If you put something on, you think twice about it."