Watch out for Jayden K Smith, warns the message. He’s a hacker who will gain access to your Facebook account if you accept his friend request.
Except it’s all nonsense, experts say – just another viral Facebook hoax.
The hoax message warning Facebook Messenger users not to accept friend requests from a “hacker” named Jayden K Smith has begun to circulate across the world, prompting confusion and an avalanche of memes.
Like most viral Facebook messages, it’s a totally made up story that scares users with a vague threat before imploring them to forward the lie on to all their friends or suffer the consequences.
“Please tell all the contacts in your Messenger list, not to accept Jayden K Smith friendship request,” says one form of the hoax, often passed on via Facebook Messenger. “He is a hacker and has the system connected to your Facebook account. If one of your contacts accepts it, you will also be hacked, so make sure that all your friends know it. Thanks. Forwarded as received.”
While it’s not wise to accept friend requests from people you don’t know, there’s no way someone can gain control of your account by being added as a friend, reports The Telegraph. The newspaper reports there’s no sign of any account under that name going on a friend-adding spree, and mass friend requests to unknown users violate Facebook’s rules against spam.
Also like most Facebook posts, it is very easily debunked if you think about it for more than three seconds before forwarding it on.
If the threat was that Jayden K Smith was a hacker who would try to befriend you and convince you to click on a link or open a file, it would be a much more believable threat. But of course that lacks the all-important impetus for users to forward the message to all their friends.
The idea that a person “has the system” connected to your Facebook account, and will hack you if any of your friend accepts his request, is blatantly ridiculous. What system? How does the originator of the message know anything about a “system” connected to your personal account? How does the hacker’s connection to a friend of yours put you at risk of anything?
It’s obvious though that the silliness of the threat is not immediately obvious to everyone, as the message has circulated broadly enough to become a running joke online.
I don't know who "Jayden K Smith" is on Facebook but he's sent every middle-aged friend I have into social overdrive.
— Brent Lindeque (@BrentLindeque) July 11, 2017
Off out tonight for some crazy hard partying with my new BFF Jayden K Smith. pic.twitter.com/oOCRRiF1HI
— misterdv (@misterdv) July 10, 2017
I am proud to announce Jayden K Smith as the new head of cyber security. He will be working with the Russians and maybe North Korea. #MAGA
— Donald J Trump. parody (@realdonalbtrump) July 10, 2017
If u get a Facebook Request from Jayden K. Smith dont accept, it hacks u, plays Getting Jiggy With It on loop & signs you up for Scientology pic.twitter.com/XLoYL4fQE3
— Marc D (@CRAMDWORLD) July 10, 2017
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