No, your Facebook account is not being cloned, despite that viral message that keeps popping up in your inbox.
Facebook users are being tricked into thinking their accounts are being cloned by hackers, thanks to a viral message that spread across inboxes over the weekend.
The message claims the sender has received a "duplicate friend request" from the recipient. It also asks the recipient to forward the same message to their friends.
"Almost every account is being cloned. Your picture and your name are used to create a new face book account (they don't need your password to do this this)," the message reads in part. "From that point on they can write what they want under your name. I have NO plans to open a new account. Please DO NOT accept a 2nd friend request from "me". please forward to all your contacts."
Facebook has said that this message is false. It's not real. It's a hoax. Back in 2016, there was a cloning scam reported on the social media network, but this is not related. It's also unrelated to the September data breach.
What to do
If you get the message, just delete it or ignore it. It means nothing. And definitely don't forward it to your friends. They will likely be annoyed by this.
Just the latest
Facebook hoaxes seem to pop up at least a few times every year. In 2016, a privacy message hoax spread like wildfire across the platform.
A post in 2015 claimed that Mark Zuckerberg would be giving away millions of dollars to Facebook users. That, of course, was a hoax.