Scammers use cloned accounts posing as friends. They may have claimed to have received duplicate friend requests from you and therefore making the illusion that your account may have been compromised. This gets you stressed and creates a sense of urgency for you to act without thinking.
The cloned account hacker may provide an “official” phone number for you to contact, and therefore manipulate you into a false sense of security. This number is supposed to be for Facebook and they can help you solve your problem. This type of attack makes you less likely to verify the information and act without thinking. The urgency is there.
You call the number and then provide the personal information they request of you because you want to solve this “security issue” with your account. Then the hacker has your personal information that you freely gave to them. They had to do very little work, and now you are in a world of hurt because of what you have told them.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Verify before accepting requests!
- Resist the click! Even if the request seems to be from a family member
- Contact the person, directly! Not through Facebook
- Look at both profiles. Look for something that might be off, a photo or some information. Do they have any recent activity?
- Look for any mutual friends. An account that has been cloned is usually NOT going to have the same friends as you do, even though they should.
THE RISKS
If you accept the friend request from that cloned account, you may:
- Be sent malicious attachments or links
- Get requests for more personal information or money
- Be used to exploit the other people in your personal network of friends
TAKE AWAY
There is a saying that we use often. “Trust but Verify” This is very important in many aspects of your life. Make it a point to check and see if the person is really the person they say they are. It will save you a world of hurt.
As always, please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.
Stay Safe Out There!