Friday, February 14, 2014

Be wary of accepting Facebook friend requests from people you are already friends with

I did a we bit of digging after receiving notification from a friend about their concern surrounding this "scam." Seems it has been around for a few years; since 2009 at least. Since many of us have mutual friends it is worth the share as from my understanding some have already been hit. Don't be afraid to verify by asking your friend or other friends whether it is legit.

Also It is highly recommended that before accepting any friend request first have a close look at the profile, you will easily identify that the profile is fake or not. Enable privacy on your profile and set you profile page to “friends only”. This will definitely help you to protect you from scammers.
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If the new account turns out to be fake (and it probably will), report it to Facebook. Here’s how:

1 – Go to the Timeline page of the fake Facebook account.

2 – Hover your mouse over the “Friends” button, then click Report/Block.

3 – Click Submit a Report.

4 – Select Report XXXXX’s account.

5 – Click the Confirm button.

You have just reported the fake account to Facebook, and they do take action. But they’ll take action faster if several people report the account instead of just you. I recommend letting the friend who had his/her account copied know about it ASAP so he/she can report the fake account too. Then ask all of your friend’s friends to do the same. If Facebook receives several reports about the same fake account, they usually investigate and shut it down fairly quickly.

Be wary of accepting Facebook friend requests from people you are already friends with

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