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Private Facebook message about Jayden K. Smith: Is it a hoax or a hack?

Posted at 6:01 PM, Jul 10, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-10 18:19:46-04

Who is this Jayden K. Smith guy and why are my friends messaging me, telling me not to accept a friend request from him?

Facebook users are falling for the latest Facebook hoax and passing along a message that is simply not legit.

The message will be similar to the following:

Please tell all the contacts in your messenger list not to accept Jayden 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. Hold your finger down on the message. At the bottom in the middle it will say forward. Hit that then click on the names of those in your list and it will send to them.

First of all, there is no evidence that a Facebook user with that name is going around adding a bunch of friends at once, and even if he was, he wouldn't be able to hack into your account just by becoming your friend. If that was the case, we'd have a lot more to worry about on our current friends list.

According to Snopes.com, accepting a friend request from a stranger will NOT provide hackers with access to your computer and online accounts. Read more here.

Facebook does also not allow mass friend requests because they can be spam related, so if this was happening, they would shut down the account immediately.

"By being calm, doing some do diligence, collecting information, and then if you suspect that this might be a concern, raising that concern and elevating it to people that can help," advised Jennifer Beckage. She heads the data security team at Phillips Lytle LLP. She also advised users to never accept a friend request from someone you don't know.

Moral of the story, just ignore those messages that your friends are sending and let them know, it's not real.