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Facebook scammers targeting "friends"

Check out profiles before accepting requests
Posted at 6:45 AM, Sep 05, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-05 09:45:53-04

Facebook users beware. Scammers are after you -- again.

This time, they are "spoofing" profiles and sending out friend requests.

Do you remember getting a request from someone you thought was already a friend? You probably didn't think about it and just clicked "accept."

Data Doctors Ken Colburn says Facebook has made it easy for scammers to copy public profile pictures, use real names, start a new account and send requests to everyone on their friends list.

Your friends list is publicly available by default. But you can change that.

To check privacy, go to settings, then privacy and to the "who can see your friends list" section.

There you can click on "only me" so no spoofer can get access to your list.

And before accepting any friend request, check out their profile.

Colburn says it's pretty easy to spot a spoofer.

They will have very few posts, maybe a handful of friends even though they supposedly have had a profile for years.

If you think your profile has been hacked, you can also check that out.

Colburn says go to settings, then "security and login."

From there go to "where you're logged in" and check for devices and places.

If you don't recognize some of them, it's likely your profile has been hacked and you must change your password.