Stop accepting friend requests on Facebook for this reason
Receiving a friend request on social networks can be an everyday occurrence, and on paper it doesn’t pose any problem. But is it really always like this? The truth is that it can put your security at risk. In this article we will explain the reasons and give you some tips so that you don’t fall into the trap of cybercriminals. We will talk about the case of Facebook, although something similar can happen on other platforms.
Accepting a friend request means that the user you accept may have certain benefits. They can access information that you share only with your contacts, send you messages, or see your posts... This can be a problem, since your privacy and security may be compromised on some occasions.
- Friend request can be a problem.
It could happen that a bot adds you, or it could be someone with a fake name just to access certain data, or an account just trying to send you ads... There are different scenarios, but your privacy and security can always be at risk. So, preventing that from happening would be interesting.
- See more information about you
One problem is that they will see more information about you. They will be able to access data that might otherwise be limited to your contacts. In fact, one of the most interesting privacy options is to restrict who can see your personal information on Facebook and other social networks, which you can set to be accessible only to your contacts.
If you accept a friend request from an account you don't really know, they will have access to everything you've restricted. In fact, it's as if your account was public, as they could create a fake profile, add you, and make you make the mistake of accepting.
- Fraudulent links
They can also launch phishing campaigns to sneak you fraudulent links. Since they have already added you to their contact list, they will be able to send you messages whenever they want. This doesn’t always happen right away when they add you, but it might happen in the future, when they launch a malicious campaign.
Through these types of fake links, they can steal your passwords. You may reach a page created for you to log in, for example, and thus get your passwords or some confidential personal data.
- Gain your trust to reach third parties
The target is not always you as a user added to Facebook, but to reach other contacts. They can see your friend list and continue the chain to reach more and more people to scam. They can use different strategies to do this.
In extreme cases, they can even impersonate you. If you fall for a phishing scam, they may have stolen your password and gotten into your account. From there, they can contact your contacts on your behalf.
- Content theft
Another problem with adding any friend request is that they can access the content you have posted. For example, if you upload photos or videos. Even if this is limited to your contacts only, this fake profile will already be part of that list and will be able to steal that content.
This can be a bigger problem if the content reveals third parties appearing in it. For example, you could have uploaded a photo of your friends or family.
In short, be careful with any friend request you receive on Facebook. It could be a scam and just a bot or a fake user wanting to access your account. Always use common sense and avoid making mistakes that hackers can exploit to hack you.