Friend requests - Why do they do it?

[Pan Pan Pan]

I believe I saw someone else`s post which touched on this quite a while ago, but cannot remember what the replies were, and having had some more myself wondered if anyone had any new theories?
Getting a friend request from someone they don't know from Adam, and who presumably knows nothing about the person they send the friend request to, does seem to be an odd thing to do.
I expect quite a few here have had such requests, and wondered if anyone here has A responded to them, and B, by doing so have found out `why' they were contacted in this way?

[Ronstein]

It's a standard technique for hackers to profile individuals. It's scary how much one can learn about an individual in just a few minutes and with total anonymity. It's also scary how much information people are prepared to put on social media without realising the potential impact. I use this video a lot in training sessions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrjT8m0hcKU

[Pan Pan Pan]

Ronstein said:

It's a standard technique for hackers to profile individuals. It's scary how much one can learn about an individual in just a few minutes and with total anonymity. It's also scary how much information people are prepared to put on social media without realising the potential impact. I use this video a lot in training sessions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrjT8m0hcKU

Thank you for this explanation. I don't suppose it is a coincidence, that many of those who send these `friend requests' seem to be nice looking young women, who might be most likely to get a response from `some' of those they send the request to?.

[Ronstein]

Pan Pan Pan said:

Thank you for this explanation. I don't suppose it is a coincidence, that many of those who send these `friend requests' seem to be nice looking young women, who might be most likely to get a response from `some' of those they send the request to?.

Exactly so!!