Most of us have multiple email address and social media accounts, it’s often hard to keep track of the messages that are genuine, let alone the scams.
Luckily there are measures in place that automatically filter the spam messages we get, but sometimes they arrive in our inbox.
Tech experts are now warning of a new Facebook hoax going around; and it’s a scam we should all be aware of.
The latest scam is done through a message from an existing Facebook friend telling you they’ve received a friend request from you. Then it says to check your account and tells you to forward the message to all your friends.
But users are following these actions without actually checking if they have a duplicate profile and it’s leading to a lot of confusion, a Louisiana official warned.
The message reads:
Hi….I actually got another friend request from you yesterday…which I ignored so you may want to check your account. Hold your finger on the message until the forward button appears…then hit forward and all the people you want to forward too….I had to do the people individually. Good Luck!
If you do fall for the scam and forward it, your information will be cloned.
When that happens, someone will steal photos and personal information from an existing user’s profile and create a second profile, “cloning” it and pretending to be that individual.
They then send out friend requests to the person’s current friends on Facebook in an attempt to learn more personal information about the person they’ve cloned, or send out scam messages, according to Webopedia.
Facebook officials said there hasn’t been an unusual increase in cloned accounts and this most recent hoax has no connection to the data breach that occurred in September.
VIRAL HOAX: The best thing for users to do is just delete the messages.
Posted by WXYZ-TV Channel 7 on Sunday, October 7, 2018
The advice given is to delete the messages you receive and report it to Facebook.
Find out more about this latest hack and how you can protect your information in the video below.
[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Ub7jFwZrc” /]
We all need to know this! Please share and spread the word so nobody falls for this hoax.
