A hoax warning is circulating Facebook urging users to decline a friend request from a Jayden K Smith, an alleged hacker seeking to steal data if they accept him as a friend but security researchers warn that's not how hacking works.
One version of the scam involves a message instructing users to tell all their Messenger list contacts not to accept the request claiming that “he is a hacker and has the system connected to your Facebook account” if accepted and that if one of your contacts accepts the request then you will also be hacked.
While users should be wary of social media friend request from strangers, Tripwire researchers assure users that unless their users name and passwords are hidden in their public online profiles they have nothing to fear.
“To obtain access to a user's Facebook account, nefarious individuals need to steal their username and password for the social media site,” researchers said in a July 10 blog post. “Unless those login credentials are (unadvisedly) hidden somewhere on a private Facebook profile that only approved friends can view, there's no risk that a new contact could seamlessly hack a user's account.”
Threat actors need access to a user's credentials in order to hack their account the report went on to say. While adding strangers can potentially lead to compromised privacy and security in other manners such as identity theft, this post and those similar to it are merely hoaxes, they said.
