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Monday, February 20, 2017

Caught by fake Facebook account

I got caught out by a "friend" with a fake Facebook account the other day. Normally I avoid this because I look at friend requests to decide if the person seems believable.
  • Does the information seem consistent? Someone from Australia who went to a Pakistani university and lives as an Iraqi goat herder raises questions
  • Do they have a history? A lot of fake accounts only go back a few days
  • Why should they know me? Although they mostly fail the history test I've had a few friend requests from US soldiers in Afghanistan.
  • Why should I believe a new account for an old friend is genuine?Some possibilities
    • A new photo that wasn't on the old account is good.
    • Has the old account continued posting?
    • Failing which a private message to the old account can be enlightening.
In this case I couldn't even remember accepting a "friend" request from this person, but suddenly a private message quickly followed by a photo of their manhood. This was my first on Facebook and it took me a to realise what I was looking at. Instantly unfriended and blocked, but ????

 


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