Facebook second friend request warning about accounts being cloned
A Facebook message warning your account has been cloned may have landed in your social media inbox.
The message claims the sender has received a second friend request from you and warns you to check your account. It then urges you to then forward on the message.
“Hi … I actually got another friend request from you yesterday … which I ignored so you may want to check your account,” the message says.
“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!”
While it might seem like something to be worried about, a social media hoax expert says the viral message is simply “pointless”.
Hoax-Slayer Brett Christensen, from Bundaberg in Queensland, said in his blog the post “is just an amazingly inept attempt to warn people about a common Facebook scam known as ‘cloning’.”
“If a friend informs you that he or she has received a second friend request from you, this could indeed be an indication that your account has been cloned. And you certainly should check it out so that you can take action to protect yourself and your friends if your account really has been cloned,” he wrote.
“However, at risk of stating the obvious, sending a second friend request warning is only helpful if you have received a second friend request from someone. And that warning should only be sent to the friend whose name is on the second friend request.”
Mr Christensen claims the warning is doing nothing to keep people safe from cloning and is instead causing fear and alarm for no reason.
“If you receive this message, please do not share it with your friends. And let the person who sent it know that the information is unhelpful and counterproductive,” he wrote.
The attackers gained the ability to “seize control” of those accounts, Facebook said, but stealing digital keys the company uses to keep people logged in.
