Expensive! Duplicate friends can cost money

Especially if one of these double friends is a scammer. Unfortunately, we currently have to regularly warn against the method of profile copies because it causes double damage.

On the one hand, it ends up being expensive for the circle of friends because they are being ripped off in good faith by the supposed friend, and on the other hand, the original profile, of which the fraudsters have made a copy, suffers reputational damage because the fraudster is mistaken for a supposed friend. So it's at least annoying when you end up having to explain that you have nothing to do with the fraudster and the trap.

We therefore warn against this method again at this point:

The financial damage to the victims is usually around €100 – €200 each. The victims receive advance requests for their cell phone numbers from their supposed Facebook friends. If you agree to this, you will then receive an SMS on your cell phone, which the alleged friend will query.

The following scam is going on in the background: unknown perpetrators hack or imitate a Facebook account from the later victim's friends list. So they contact the gullible victims and ask them for their cell phone number. The mobile phone number is used to purchase services from so-called third-party providers, usually game credit or something similar. Through contact with the victim, the perpetrator then obtains the transaction codes sent via SMS that he needs to unlock the credit.

This also makes it difficult for the victim to request a refund since the transaction code was addressed to them personally. So in these cases, pay close attention and consult your friends personally! To avoid such scams, you can also set up a so-called third-party block . This means that third-party companies can no longer charge anything to your cell phone bill.

Let's get to the effective part at this point:

With these 4 steps you too can protect your profile!

At this point we would like to show you how you can protect your Facebook profile as best as possible in 4 steps so that it cannot be copied.

1. FIRST LOOK FOR A COPY OF YOUR ACCOUNT

Use Facebook SEARCH and search for your name. Your friends should also support you in the search, because the scammers usually block the ORIGINAL profile and so it may be that your profile exists twice but you cannot find it. If you or one of your friends have discovered a copy, REPORT the copied profile immediately.

2. HIDE YOUR FRIENDS LIST

Once an account has set its friends list to “Only me,” it is no longer of interest to internet fraudsters. To do this, click on “Friends” in your profile (under the cover photo). On the right you will find a “pen”.

If a scammer can't recognize your friends, it will be much more difficult to duplicate a profile.

3. NEVER POST “PUBLICLY” IF POSSIBLE

EVERYONE doesn't always have to know everything. It's enough if your FRIENDS find out something. You can set the setting for this directly in the status post. This applies to pure text contributions but also photos and videos. Rule of thumb: keep the circle of people as narrow as possible.

4. PLEASE ALSO MAKE THE FOLLOWING SETTINGS:

Content, contacts and searches

► Who can see your future posts: “Friends”
► Who can send you friend requests: “Everyone” or “Friends of Friends”.
Our recommendation: “Friends of friends” ► Whose messages should be filtered in my inbox: “Strict filtering”

Remove check mark

► If you want other search engines to receive a link to your timeline: REMOVE check mark

Limit visibility

► Who can post in your timeline: “Friends”
► Check marked posts first: “Enabled”
► Who can see marked posts: Our recommendation: “Friends”
► Who can see what others post in your timeline: Our recommendation: “Friends ”
► User tagging suggestions: “Enabled”
► Combine your actions with ads: “Nobody”