If someone sends you a private message on Facebook asking you not to accept a friend request from a user named Jayden K. Smith, it’s a hoax.
On Monday, Facebook users began sharing a message that tells them if they accept a friend request from the user Jayden K. Smith, that user will be able to hack their accounts.
The chain message urges users to forward it to everyone in their contact list so they can be aware of the “hacker.”
The message reads:
“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.”
It is unlikely a user would be able to hack into your Facebook account just from accepting a friend request. In order for someone to hack your account, they would need to get your password or have you click on some link that brings you to another site that appears to be Facebook.
Similar messages have circulated on Facebook for several years.
Facebook security has improved over the years, and if there was a large number of friend requests to a strange account, Facebook would mark it as spam and the user account would be deleted.
Since word circulated of the hoax, several “Jayden K. Smith” accounts have surfaced, including one user who appears to want everyone to leave him alone and stop thinking he’s a hacker.
