Facebook hoaxes are nothing new. We receive dozens of Facebook chain-mail hoaxes on a monthly basis – whether it’s a message warning us of being hacked by strangers or a message warning us of poisonous perfume circulating mailboxes across the world.
It’s also easy to say that 90% of these hoaxes hold no truth to them at all. Recently, an old Facebook hoax is travelling the online community with a different name. This hoax warns Facebook users of a hacker called “Jayden K. Smith” that apparently can hack any Facebook account they’re connected to.
One variety of 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.”
Another variation of the name is “Anwar Jitou/Fitou”, although “Jayden” seems to be the more popular choice. Now, while this Facebook chain-message is just a hoax, it does hold a very important reminder: adding strangers on Facebook is dangerous.
Hackers are out there, and they can gain access to your account easily if given the opportunity. Unless your Facebook account is the epitome of security, adding strangers can result in a multitude of hacking attempts – from doxing to brute force attacks.
In today’s cyber generation, you are better safe than sorry. That’s not to say that making online friends is a bad thing and that you shouldn’t do it. Rather, try to be smart when extending your virtual hand for friendship.
Don’t put important information on your social media accounts, use strong passwords, and update your security measures on a regular basis.
Also remember – you can control how much information is public on your Facebook profile. Whether Jayden K. Smith is real or not doesn’t matter because the threat will always be there.
