This morning, I received this Facebook notification that M B wants to be friends. One small problem: M B and I are already Facebook friends. Since this is the case, why would M B be asking me to be friends again? The only reason for someone to do this would be if they got locked out of their original FB account and had to start a new one. However, when these types of notifications appear, it is rarely because a friend got locked out.

Most of the time, when you receive this kind of notice from someone who is already a friend, the request is fake. Evil people will steal photos of a person and create a new account using that person’s name and image. Then, they will send requests asking to be friends. If you receive one of these and don’t stop to think, you might click CONFIRM and then all kinds of problems can crop up.

The creators of these types of fake accounts might use your acceptance to send you requests for help or “informational messages” asking you to click to view something. In all cases, trouble (Malware, stolen information, etc.) can easily follow for you and your computing device.

Here’s my advice: never accept a friend request from someone you know is already your friend. Always assume it’s a fake. If on the oft chance your friend got locked out of his or her account and is setting up a new one, they will let you know some other way.

FYI: I immediately reported the false account to Facebook and by 4:00 p.m. today, the account was gone.