Here is a timeless piece of advice for the Facebook age: Don’t accept a friend request from someone you don’t know personally. If you heed that bit of wisdom, then the latest friend request hoax making the rounds on Facebook shouldn’t phase you at all. However, you should still know it’s false—and why.
The latest piece of social media rubbish you may see crop up in your Facebook feed revolves around someone named Jayden K. Smith. The post goes something like this:
“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.”
My first thought when I saw this was, “Jayden Smith, the actor and philosophical wunderkind?” No, that’s Jaden Smith. Will Smith’s Twitter-loving offspring is not trying to hack your Facebook. Regardless of the spelling (or what the name is) though, no friend can hack into your Facebook account after a simple friend request. Snopes has labeled this hoax, which crops up from time to time, false.
When you accept a friend request on Facebook, you are only giving that individual access to see and comment on your photos and posts (and vice-versa). The only feasible way they could gain access to your account is by phishing for your login information. They could do this directly, perhaps over chat, or by sharing a link that you click which then spoofs the Facebook login page and steals your credentials after you log in.
If you see a friend post this Jayden K. Smith warning, you have two choices: You can ignore it. Or, you can kindly explain to the poster that it’s a hoax—but that it’s still always a good idea not to accept strange friend requests.
H/T Huffington Post
