I got a Facebook friend request from my cousin. Which was odd since we’re already Facebook friends. Once you’re friends with someone, they can’t send you a request. I didn’t choose to accept it, but I did go to the profile. It used three photos that belonged to my cousin and had about 5 family members as friends. But when I searched for my cousin’s actual profile, it was still there with hundreds of friends and the proper information about my cousin.
This was definitely a scammer. Once these scam friend requests are accepted these crooks will message you. Generally to either sell you something or to ask for money. They don’t need to hack someone’s account to do this. They can just grab some screenshots of public photos and use the name.
If you get a request from someone you think you’re already friends with, check your friends list to make sure it’s not a duplicate. Sometimes people do start second accounts because they’ve been locked out. But before accepting a duplicate request, try to contact the person through their current profile or via email, text, or phone to confirm they’ve started a new FB account.
~ Cynthia
This happen to my wife & she loss $250.OO This was about a month ago!!
This cloning scam is rampant on Facebook. I deal with it all the time….I’ve been hit twice, and many of my friends have also been cloned. The person cloned must report the clone to Facebook by going to the cloned account, clicking on the box next to “Message” on the clone’s cover photo. This brings up the menu from which the clone can be reported to FB. Hopefully, FB will investigate and delete the clone. However, sometimes this does not work on first try. Changing one’s password does not stop the scammer.