SALT LAKE CITY — Have you received a strange message on your Facebook account notifying you that your account has been cloned?
According to The Plaquemines Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, this particular Facebook message is a hoax and you’re just “making it worse” by following through with forwarding it to your friends.
The message begins by saying:
“Hi….I actually got another friend request from you yesterday…which I ignored so you may want to check your account…”
It ends by asking users to:
“…hold your finger on the message until the forward button appears…then hit forward….”
If you are seeing this message in your inbox delete it and do not forward it.
Reporting to WSYR, Facebook officials saw “no uptick in cloned accounts” and believe the message may be going viral out of fear.
Facebook also says this scam is not affiliated with a security breach the company suffered last week.
Officials want people to understand that a clone and hack are two different things that can happen on Facebook.
A hack means that someone has access to your account and any information that comes with it.
A clone means that a spammer has created a new profile under your name and is possibly using your pictures and requesting your friends’ accounts.
The spammer hopes your friends will accept their request so they can proceed to link a virus, steal identity, ask for money, or dig further into personal data.
The online platform did experience a “cloning epidemic” about 18 months ago, though.
Some accounts are still occasionally cloned but this new scam going around is unaffiliated and completely “bogus,” says Plaquemines Parish Office.
An easy way to check whether your account has been cloned is to search your name on Facebook.
If you see more than one account with your authentic photo and information, it is possible that your account has been cloned.
If this is the case, contact Facebook using the “report this profile” link on the fake account and the platform will remove it within 24 hours.