Wiz's Computer and Website Security Blog

Beware of new Facebook Friend requests and Messenger message requests coming in the name of people you may already be friends with on the platform. A lot of these requests may even have same profile photo as your friend uses, but may not actually come from the accounts you are friends with.

First, let's acknowledge that there are valid reasons why a Facebook member might create a new account. For instance, they could have a new phone or computer and can't recover the logins from the old device for some valid reason. So, if that person sends friend requests to his previous friends it is probably not a scam (er, maybe). But, that person would be prudent to write a post explaining what happened in the new profile, or in Messenger messages.

But, let's get serious. Facebook accounts are juicy targets for scammers who copy user names, a photo and some details and create a fake, or clone account of somebody you know. They do this so they can scam that person's friends. Always check the member's profile before replying to an unexpected message request that says it is from a Facebook User, possibly with a new account, even if it has the profile photo that friend has been using. Just do a quick search for your friend's name then go to that friend's profile and see if they or their friends mention them possibly being "hacked." They usually have not been hacked, per se, but rather had their account cloned by an impersonator.

Hacked and cloned accounts are used to scam the victim's friends, either by sending a new Friend Request to a fake profile controlled by a criminal, or via specially crafted messages in Facebook Messenger. They can do this if you have an unprotected Friends List that is viewable by other people or the public. If you want to protect your friends from being contacted by scammers who might want to clone your account, just make your Friends list private and viewable to only yourself. To do this go to your account settings, then click or tap on Privacy. the Privacy section contains a setting labeled: Who can see your friends list? To protect your friends from scammers and potential account cloners, set it to: Only Me..

Continue reading "Tis the season of Facebook and Messenger account impersonators" »

Posted by Wiz at 11:30 PM | Permalink

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I recently helped a Facebook friend secure his account after he accidentally got it hacked by a Nigerian 419 scammer/fraudster. The fraudster was using my friend's account to send scams to people on his Friends list via Facebook Messenger. He needed to change his Facebook password, but didn't know where to do it. This article describes how to do that.

If you are using the Facebook App (not a web browser) on a phone, tablet, or touch screen laptop computer, login to Facebook via the screen or desktop icon. Look at the icons along the top of your Facebook profile. At the far right is an icon with three horizontal lines. Touch that icon. A page opens labeled "Menu" on the upper left. To the right of the word Menu is a gear icon. Touch the gear icon to open your "Settings & Privacy" then follow these steps...

1. Under the heading "Account" is a link labeled "Password and Security." When you press this link the first option is to check your "Important Security Settings." Do that and fix any serious issues.
2. Afterward, come back to the Password & Security page and look under the heading: "Login" - where you will see: "Change password." Press that link and follow the on-screen instructions.
3. Do not reuse an old password as they get stolen from hacked online databases. Create a strong new password that can't be guessed by a random stranger or a hack-bot using a dictionary attack to crack known words. Better yet, if your browser offers to create a strong password, let it and have the browser save/remember it.
4. Note, you might have to add a punctuation mark, capital letter, or a number to the new password if the input field complains that the password must contain at least one of this or that character.

If you are using Facebook in a web browser, rather than an App, on a desktop or laptop computer, read the extended content for instructions for changing your Facebook password.

Continue reading "Securing your Facebook account" »

Posted by Wiz at 10:34 AM | Permalink

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