We've all seen strange photos of shoe sales, sunglasses deals and even some graphic images on our friends' pages. We know they didn't post them. Spam and viruses spread like wildfire on Facebook.
But what about these messages claiming that accepting certain friend requests will enable a hacker to get all of your personal information or that of your friends?
It looks something like this...
Please tell all the contacts in your Messenger list, not to accept John K. Smith friendship request. He is a hacker and has the system connected to your Facebook account. If one of your contacts accepts it, you will also be hacked, so make sure that all your friends know it. Thanks. Forwarded as received.
It turns out, this is a hoax. According to Snopes, "Accepting a Facebook friend request from a stranger will not provide hackers with access to your computer and online accounts."
Snopes goes on to say:
Of course, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that an e-mail message or a link posted on Facebook might carry a virus payload which could infect your computer and allow it be controlled by a botnet, but virus warnings that correspond to the patterns detailed above can be safely dismissed as japes.
If you think your Facebook account may have been hacked, you can get help here.
