A friend request that is not your friend
Tell a copied account from a real one in about ten seconds, and know exactly what to do with it.
A request arrives from your daughter. You already have your daughter. That single oddity is the whole of the warning, and it is why this works on so many people — the name is right, the photograph is right, and it feels rude to hesitate.
What has happened is that somebody has copied her public photograph and her name, made a new page, and sent requests to everybody on her visible list of friends. Nothing has been broken into. It is a costume, not a burglary.
Four things give it away, and they take about ten seconds to check.
Key points
- Check the age, the photographs and the friends in common before accepting anybody
- Recognize a copied account of somebody you already have
- Answer any request for money with a call to a number you already had
- Block, report, and warn the person being copied
What to remember
- Date made, number of photographs, friends in common, and whether you already have them. Four looks, ten seconds.
- Age, depth and history are what cannot be faked in two weeks. Look for those three, not for a feeling.
- Any request for money, however it arrives, is answered by a telephone call to a number you already had. That rule has no exceptions.
- Blocking protects you. Reporting protects everybody. Telling the real person is what gets it removed.
Try this
Look at your own page as a stranger would and count how many photographs and how many years are visible. That depth is what protects you — and it is also what tells your friends which of the two Kathleens is real.
Practice: A friend request that is not your friend. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.