Not talking to strangers is one of the earliest pieces of safety advice we get as children. And not adding strangers on Facebook is one of the first pieces of advice we get on social media.
But why?
Because there are many scams that operate on Facebook that can start with a simple friend request. We explore five popular scams that highlight why you should always think twice before hitting that accept button.
(If you get a friend request from someone you are already friends with on Facebook, it could be a cloning scam. Read here for more information on that.)
An unexpected friend request from some attractive person of the opposite sex? Sounds too good to be true, and it probably is.
Romance scams have been on the rise for some time, seeking out vulnerable social media users who can be manipulated. And unlike dating websites, social media sites are not geared towards identifying romance scams, meaning they’re the perfect platform for these scammers.
If you accept a friend request from someone on Facebook apparently keen to strike up a relationship, it’s likely you’ll soon be getting requests for money or personal information. We have a full article on romance scams here.
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There is one important thing to note with this scam. The chances are the friend request won’t be from a stranger. It will appear to come from one of your friends.
That’s because these scams start with the scammer “cloning” (i.e. creating a new account with a friend’s name and profile picture) an account and sending you a friend request.
If you accept the friend request – presumably under the belief that it is actually your friend – the “friend” will claim they are in an emergency and that they need money urgently. Always be careful if you get a friend request from someone you are already friends with. We have more advice here.
If your settings are set to “friends only” – and they certainly should be – then someone looking at your profile from the outside shouldn’t be able to see a great deal of information about you. But if they can get inside your circle of friends then they will likely be able to see a lot more.
Whether they’ve cloned a friend’s account or are sending you a request as a stranger, being too cavalier with your Facebook friends can lead to identity thieves getting important information about you, which they can collect in order to do one of two things –
First – Identity theft. If they get enough information about you, a crook can steal your identity and take out loans, contract or credit in your name.
Second – Targeting phishing scams. They can use the information they learn about you to initiate targeting phishing scams whereby the claim to be someone they’re not and make themselves appear legitimate since they appear to know information about you.
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You accept a friend request, and straight away that person (be it a “friend” or a stranger) is sending you links attached to messages.
They claim you’re tagged in a photo or a video, and you should click the link to check it out. But beware, this could lead to malware. For example a website may claim you need to download a plugin to watch a video.
Alternatively it could be a phishing scam, and the website will ask for sensitive information to proceed – such as a username and password. The site may look like a genuine login page, but its operated by crooks who will get their hands on any information you enter into the webpage.
Sometimes scammers want to contact you over Facebook to claim you’ve won an expensive prize, or even the lottery. They’ll claim to be representing a legitimate company or entity, and they need to accept you as a friend so they can organise getting your winnings over to you.
But first… there’s a small problem. You’ll need to pay a small upfront cost to receive your prize…
It’s called Advance Fee Fraud. You haven’t won a thing. The scammers are just trying to get you to hand them money and then they’ll run.