Social media is a box of surprises. Sometimes, it doesn't matter if you're old or young, because some of the things that happen on these platforms will end up surprising you. A very common practice on some social networks is receiving friend requests from people we don't know . The first or second time it happens, we usually think it's a mistake. After all, there are surely other people in the world with the same name as us.
Why are so many people adding me on Facebook?
But what happens when it becomes a regular occurrence? Why do you receive so many friend requests from complete strangers on Facebook? If you're experiencing this problem, or if you're even being tagged and receiving comments from unknown profiles on your posts, today we'll explain everything you need to know to protect your Facebook account. This way, you'll not only find a solution to stop receiving those annoying friend requests that have been proliferating lately on the social network, but you'll also avoid unwanted tags and comments on your timeline.
The first thing you need to know is the reason for this massive friendship frenzy. You and some of your Facebook friends have probably received friend requests from one or more users on the network—a number of complete strangers, usually located in remote places, far from your own country. In other words, it's not your typical childhood friend who's finally found you after years of fruitless searching.
They're bots. Or, failing that, people with malicious intent. What they do is scan your network and add every single person you have as a friend en masse. If your friends list is public so anyone can see it, the bot will likely add all your contacts as friends, and if it's private, they'll probably find you through someone else's public friend list. The idea is to knock on someone's door to see if they can get in, and the moment they succeed... the spam starts.
The intentions of these new acquaintances are obviously nefarious, as they seek to steal data, hijack accounts, and carry out all kinds of online intimidation. The general recommendation is to ignore and delete all friend requests from people who seem suspicious and who are completely unknown to you. But if the requests start arriving en masse, there is a way to stop them immediately.
Among the many services or messages that these bots usually send, we could find some such as:
Sale of cryptocurrencies or participation in fraudulent investments
After accepting the application, a person (who surely does not write correctly), will try to convince you to be part of an incredible investment project that will give you billions just by putting a few hundred euros. Of course, it will be a fraud.
There are cases in which these scam attempts are the most seedy. However, you should be warned, as there may be a case in which the scam is well elaborated. They will try to convince you with all kinds of arguments, completely false transfer screenshots and promises that are a complete lie. As soon as you send them your money, you will have lost it forever.
money transfer request
This is another type of scam that is quite common on Facebook, and there are different variants. From the typical stamp scam to the Good Samaritan scam. They will tell you a story with all kinds of details so you can send them money. Obviously, they will never return it to you. If you've ever heard of the famous Nigerian prince scam, this is it. modus operandi.
spam and malware
It is not intended to scam you, but to get you to access some kind of link. They are also quite varied:
- Pages with adult content
- Online stores
- Casinos and gambling platforms
- Links to known websites, but after having clicked on a referral link
- Application download
- Malware Installation
- Spy on your friends contacts to increase the level of spam.
control and extortion
Social media accounts are also a business for cybercriminals. In many cases, they will try to trick you into giving them access to your account. Then, when you have lost it, they will request your money to be able to recover it. Needless to say, there will be no guarantee that you can successfully recover it. In the worst case, you will lose the account and also your money.
It's important to understand that adding someone on Facebook doesn't automatically make them a contact who can interact with you and see all the sections and content you've set as available only to your closest friends. Unless you confirm by clicking the "Confirm" button, those who try to access your activity for malicious purposes will remain. So read carefully everything we have to say below because it could save you some serious trouble.
Add me on Facebook people from other countries
It's normal. You might receive a lot of friend requests from all sorts of people. If you're a man, the requests will mostly be from women, and if you're a woman, they'll mostly be from men. This happens very frequently, and as we mentioned earlier, it's usually from organizations trying to steal Facebook user data.
Keep in mind that your account on the social network is used to log in to many other services, so having access to your account could mean having access to many more sites. For example, if you use Facebook to sell things on Wallapop, having access to your account would allow them to impersonate you in the sales app and the person in control could scam someone on your behalf by selling fictitious products at a much lower price. with the intention of earning a lot in a short time and leaving without a trace, leaving you with all the trouble.
The moment you start to suffer the wave of friend requests, it is best to put a stop to this harassment with the following recommendations.
How to avoid friend requests
The key is to secure your account with some very basic security measures that suit your needs. All of this can be configured in Facebook's settings and tools menu, so we'll show you how to do it so you can complete the process.
- The first thing you will have to do is enter the configuration panel and access the section Privacy. You will have to click on the arrow that you will find in the upper right corner of the screen, select Settings and Privacy and then in Consetting.
- In the next menu you must select the option Security that you will find in the left column, and there we will be able to see all the options related to the security of your account.
- In this section you can find several options related to your activity, but you can also adjust the privacy levels when someone can find you and contact you.
- In the question “Who can send you friend requests?” select “Friends of Friends” to reduce the number of people who can add you. In this way, only people who are within the circle of friends of your own friends will be able to send you requests.
Among the other options, you'll find some interesting ones, such as who can see your friends list , who can search for you using your email address or phone number, and, probably most importantly, whether you allow your Facebook account to appear in search engine results when people search for your name. This last option is especially important, as it will determine whether someone can find you by typing your name into Google.
You can also access the privacy settings check menu to quickly review all the options easily, and thus strengthen the security of your account.
What problem can we find if we limit friend requests?
The problem that we can run into is obvious, since, by limiting ourselves to such limited circles, someone who is really trying to contact us and does not know any of our friends will not be able to add us as a friend at any time.
In any case, you should be very clear about the extent to which Facebook is an important means of communication in your life. If someone needs to contact you to offer you a job, they'll normally use LinkedIn, and if someone has something very important to tell you, they're probably someone close to you and have other ways to let you know. Remember, social media should be used wisely, and you need to be able to distinguish between personal matters and the social bubble that the internet can create, which is almost always made up of completely unnecessary information and interactions.
What if you still receive unwanted requests?
If, despite trying everything mentioned above, those unknown profiles still manage to slip through the cracks left by your friend circles, your only option is to change your account settings from public to private. This way, you can keep your wall away from prying eyes and, above all, avoid the hassle of constantly filtering out friend requests from people you've never even spoken to.
It is surely something too radical, because it has important consequences for your day-to-day life on the social network, but if you don't like to post a lot or comment on other threads, it may be the best decision to simply enter a few times every day, check what the users we follow upload and that's it.
Avoid being tagged in photos
One of the problems we might encounter is being tagged in photos by other profiles. This isn't a problem in itself, but it can help these intruders expand their network of influence, potentially leading them to our profile. In these cases, the best course of action is to talk to friends and family and ask them (please) not to tag us. This will prevent many people from identifying us and reaching our profile. But if that's not possible, we can at least partially mute the impact of any such mentions.
To achieve this, we recommend activating Facebook's content review feature, which allows you to review posts that mention you , preventing them from appearing on your timeline and elsewhere on the social network. To do this, go to the app's settings, then to "Settings & Privacy," then to "Profile & Tagging," and within the review section, limit the reach for both "Do you want to review the tags people add to your posts before they appear on Facebook?" and "Review posts you've been tagged in before they appear on your profile?". This will help mitigate some of the global impact of content that we unwittingly feature in, which attracts bots and other threats.
Know how to use social media
Furthermore, you should keep in mind that all these measures won't completely protect you , as they could find you being friends with one of your friends, or using many other methods, such as tagged photos or participation in public groups. It's very important that you define the limits of your privacy on this and other social networks, but you also need to understand the limitations that arise when using them.
We hope these tips will help keep your Facebook account more secure and free from attacks by unknown people.