As much as we all love Facebook, just like the real world, the virtual world has bad people who are there only to commit crimes and hurt others.   If you have been on facebook for any amount of time then you or one of your friends has been hacked. I am sure you have seen strange posts by that person — things like “Acai berry product info” sent to everyone, or worse porn videos posted on people’s walls, or the beloved email of the hacker, the scam where they send everyone messages from your facebook account asking for money and saying you are in dire need of their help.  Beware of the Facebook Hacker !  They are trying to steal your money, and in some cases your identity.  The lastest round of facebook hackers, are now duplicating your actual facebook account.

Let’s say your friend John had his account hacked and stupid things were being posted on his wall, and from him on friend’s walls.   He tells all his friends he was hacked, changes his password, and thinks the problem has been fixed.  Not long after that John’s friends get “friend” requests from him.   We assume John just opened a new facebook account and closed the old one because of the hacker, so we accept his friend request.   You and John’s other 200 friends all just accepted friend requests from a hacker.   This can go on for days, weeks, or months before someone tells John — “Hey, why do you have two accounts ?”   Now, John has to report it to facebook, and wait for the person to be caught, and deleted, and hope they are not trying to scam his identity.   These hackers are very good, John even tried to change the picture on his real account, so his friends would know who to unfriend and block– and guess what — the hacker changed the photo on his account and made it identical to John’s real account within a matter of hours.  This is serious stuff people !

If you notice anything strange with any of your friend’s accounts, let them know right away.   Remember these important tips to help protect against hackers.

• Make sure your facebook password is strong (don’t use personal dates etc; and DO use letters and numbers, upper and lower case if possible)
• Be careful of the emails you get from facebook telling you someone has commented on you – many of these are scams, and when you click on the link, you are hacked.
• Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know  — you wouldn’t show a stranger on the street all your personal information and family photos, don’t do it online either.
• If you get a strange message from a friend asking for money, DON’T send the money —  Call your friend and talk to them and find out if it is real.
• If you see something that looks like a friend has been hacked — strange wall postings etc; —  let them know right away, and make sure either you or your friend report it to facebook security.
• If you get a friend request from someone you are already friends with — ask them if they sent it — if they have a new account — before you accept the request.
• Remember if something sounds to good to be true, it probably is.
• Be careful, Be Safe, and don’t be afraid to verify with friends via phone or regular email that a request is real.

We have to all work together to get rid of the hackers, and we at Spencer Technology Solutions want to help keep our virtual world safe for ourselves and our friends.