Facebook Officials Warn of a New Viral Hoax Hitting Inboxes

Do you think that we, as a society, are so divided that it’s impossible to agree on even one, simple thing? If so, go ahead and ask a random assortment of people about Facebook security and, chances are, you’ll get the same response–it stinks!

Just last week, we gave you the scoop on how the social media platform’s faulty security measures allowed a whopping 50 million users to suffer breaches–and, now, just days later, we’re learning of another widespread issue. And, you may have already fallen victim to it without even realizing it…

You see, a group of hackers managed to send messages to millions upon millions of accounts–and even trick these poor folks into doing their dirty work for them!

It all happened, when Facebook users began getting messages from friends, stating that they had a “duplicate account” on the social media platform. Here’s what the message looks like:

Hi….I actually got another friend request from you yesterday…which I ignored so you may want to check your account. Hold your finger on the message until the forward button appears…then hit forward and all the people you want to forward too….I had to do the people individually. Good Luck!

Upon receiving these messages, many people decided to follow the instructions and forward the message to all of their friends. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this allows hackers to use your information to establish fake accounts on the service that could mislead other users into unknowingly divulging personal information.

But, although this scam might be an annoying one, at least it’s not as insidious as last week’s breach. If you received one of these messages, just delete it and move on. Of course, if you’re worried that there might be a duplicate account floating around on Facebook, just search your name and check for yourself.

Let’s continue to be vigilant about keeping our online identities safe!

What are your thoughts on this latest Facebook security issue? Are you surprised that the platform is experiencing so many? How do you keep your online identity safe?