Who keeps cloning my Father in Law?
Discussion
Father in Law has been facebooking the last couple of years, he's fairly active on it but the last few months all of his friends will occasionally receive a friends request apparently originating from his account, same name/profile picture/etc but if you try to explore the "new" profile there's generally no content on it.
I've reported the last couple as duplicate accounts and as far as we can tell, no harm currently being done but if this is something malicious - what could the end-goal be and what measures should he be taking if any?
Slight development this morning as one of these duplicate accounts has sent my Brother in Law a message request with a generic "Hello how have you been..." type message.
Is this some kind of long-con under way that could culminate into something a bit more sinister?
I've reported the last couple as duplicate accounts and as far as we can tell, no harm currently being done but if this is something malicious - what could the end-goal be and what measures should he be taking if any?
Slight development this morning as one of these duplicate accounts has sent my Brother in Law a message request with a generic "Hello how have you been..." type message.
Is this some kind of long-con under way that could culminate into something a bit more sinister?
Miserablegit said:
Just be grateful no-one is cloning your mother in law...
Ok, I’ll get my coat and head back to 1970...
Zing!Ok, I’ll get my coat and head back to 1970...
OP - i've had this happen to a couple of mates, best thing to do is keep reporting the fake profile and FB will remove and block it....
"Facebook account cloning is a simple scam — but it’s easy to be fooled by it. A cloned account is a copy, that uses your profile photo and other public information to trick your friends into giving up their information. It may seem like a harmless prank, but these clones can cause real damage. A cloned account may convince your friends to send them money, collect passwords or other information, or dupe them into other scams.
Account cloning isn’t a hack or an exploit — it’s just a result of clever scammers using your publicly available information to fool your friends. Pretending to be you, the cloned account could message your friend saying they need cash to handle some emergency — for example, being mugged and needing funds to get back home. You may think your friends are too smart to fall for a scam like that, but because these requests come from you, they may respond without thinking. "
designforlife said:
Zing!
OP - i've had this happen to a couple of mates, best thing to do is keep reporting the fake profile and FB will remove and block it....
"Facebook account cloning is a simple scam — but it’s easy to be fooled by it. A cloned account is a copy, that uses your profile photo and other public information to trick your friends into giving up their information. It may seem like a harmless prank, but these clones can cause real damage. A cloned account may convince your friends to send them money, collect passwords or other information, or dupe them into other scams.
Account cloning isn’t a hack or an exploit — it’s just a result of clever scammers using your publicly available information to fool your friends. Pretending to be you, the cloned account could message your friend saying they need cash to handle some emergency — for example, being mugged and needing funds to get back home. You may think your friends are too smart to fall for a scam like that, but because these requests come from you, they may respond without thinking. "
If ever there was a reason to have nothing to do with facebook this is it.OP - i've had this happen to a couple of mates, best thing to do is keep reporting the fake profile and FB will remove and block it....
"Facebook account cloning is a simple scam — but it’s easy to be fooled by it. A cloned account is a copy, that uses your profile photo and other public information to trick your friends into giving up their information. It may seem like a harmless prank, but these clones can cause real damage. A cloned account may convince your friends to send them money, collect passwords or other information, or dupe them into other scams.
Account cloning isn’t a hack or an exploit — it’s just a result of clever scammers using your publicly available information to fool your friends. Pretending to be you, the cloned account could message your friend saying they need cash to handle some emergency — for example, being mugged and needing funds to get back home. You may think your friends are too smart to fall for a scam like that, but because these requests come from you, they may respond without thinking. "
Its called social engineering. This is what most "hacking" actually is.
It's just fooling people into giving you money or details by pretending, or just taking advantage of people's stupidity.
You know the celebrity voicemail "hacking" cases? All it was, was celebrities not putting a pin code on their voicemail, so the press went round trying everyone's number, pressing the option to check voicemail and being let in automatically. But as a celebrity you get handsomely rewarded for being stupid.
It's just fooling people into giving you money or details by pretending, or just taking advantage of people's stupidity.
You know the celebrity voicemail "hacking" cases? All it was, was celebrities not putting a pin code on their voicemail, so the press went round trying everyone's number, pressing the option to check voicemail and being let in automatically. But as a celebrity you get handsomely rewarded for being stupid.
I have had two cloned accounts but Facebook actually told me as their face recognition technology picked up the new account had my photo.
Both suggested they might know me as one was called "Bar Sessions" (and I'm a barrister). Facebook closed them both immediately. That was several years back.
The new one, currently, seems to be somebody asking for my Facebook account password reset. Largely pointless as Facebook then send you an e-mail code to enter so unless they can get your e-mail, it's a bit pointless. I have had to change the password three times this week alone but Facebook seem to be on top of iot and keep e-mailing to confirm it's me or not.
Both suggested they might know me as one was called "Bar Sessions" (and I'm a barrister). Facebook closed them both immediately. That was several years back.
The new one, currently, seems to be somebody asking for my Facebook account password reset. Largely pointless as Facebook then send you an e-mail code to enter so unless they can get your e-mail, it's a bit pointless. I have had to change the password three times this week alone but Facebook seem to be on top of iot and keep e-mailing to confirm it's me or not.
Mr-B said:
If ever there was a reason to have nothing to do with facebook this is it.
Facebook isn't the problem.The problem is people being careless and believing everything they see online without question.
This applies to email and other online services, not just Facebook.
One only has to see how many people have been scammed out of money by scammers creating a new email address and then asking for invoices to be paid etc.
Cheers for the replies.
It is a little frustrating as there doesn't seem to be much that he can do himself to report the issues - as he never receives messages/requests from these bogus account(s). We're just advising people to keep reporting it for now.
I took a look at his privacy settings over the weekend and prevented public visibility of his friends list - so that should at least stifle it in the future as the dummy accounts won't be able to 'reach out' to his friends list in bulk.
I've suggested he posts on less generic stuff, as that's getting his name/profile into the public domain and keep more to posting on family/friends matters... but I don't think that advice has taken hold...
It is a little frustrating as there doesn't seem to be much that he can do himself to report the issues - as he never receives messages/requests from these bogus account(s). We're just advising people to keep reporting it for now.
I took a look at his privacy settings over the weekend and prevented public visibility of his friends list - so that should at least stifle it in the future as the dummy accounts won't be able to 'reach out' to his friends list in bulk.
I've suggested he posts on less generic stuff, as that's getting his name/profile into the public domain and keep more to posting on family/friends matters... but I don't think that advice has taken hold...
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff