Maybe you've received a friend request from someone who's already a friend on Facebook or someone who's your friend asks why you sent a new friend request. The immediate assumption is that an account has been hacked. That's not what happened.
It isn't possible to send a friend request to someone who's already your friend on Facebook. So if you receive a friend request from someone who is already your friend, the inescapable logic suggests that something is wrong.
That much is true, but you haven't been "hacked". Your password is safe. Your account is safe. Someone has simply created a new account using your name. When I searched for my own name, I found my account, two other legitimate Bill Blinns, and 3 fake accounts. I reported the fake accounts.
I'll explain how you can report a fake account that's trying to impersonate someone else. Fewer steps are involved in reporting an account that's impersonating you.
The difference between "hacked" and "cracked" hasn't been observed since sometime in the 1990s or maybe the 1980s, so I should probably stop fighting a lost battle. However, the term "hacker" refers to a good actor who likes to examine code and solve puzzles. "Cracker" refers to a malevolent person. But I've generally given up on the distinction.
What's the point of fake friend requests? When someone is your friend, that person will have access to personal information that you restrict to friends. Obtaining your contact information makes it easier to spam you, but crooks can also obtain information to use in a phishing attack.
Most phony friend requests are easy to spot, but some aren't.
The first point to consider when you receive a friend request is whether the request is from someone who's already a friend. If so, it's a fake because someone who is already your friend cannot send a friend request.
If the person isn't already a friend, do you recognize the name? If cousin Fred in Wyoming asks to be your friend, that's one thing. But what if you don't recognize the name? In that case, visit their Facebook profile and see if you have any friends in common. Examine the page to learn what you can about the person before deciding whether to accept or reject the invitation.
If the Facebook timeline shows that the person joined Facebook a few days ago, that's a red flag. New users do sign up, but most legitimate users have a timeline history that covers at least several years.
While you're on the user's timeline, look for photos, comments, and links -- the kind of activity you'd expect from a real user. Fake profiles are created quickly and scammers assume that their intended victims won't visit the page before accepting the friend request.
Is the friend request from Barack Obama or Donald Trump? Maybe from Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates? If so, you can be reasonably certain that it's a phony.
What about a request from a highly attractive person of the opposite sex? The more provocative the pose in the profile picture, the less likely the request is from a real person. This is called "cat-phishing".
Examine the profile's list of friends. Most people have a mix of male and female friends; if the friends are almost exclusively male or almost exclusively female, it's more likely that the profile is phony.
When you spot a phony Facebook profile, report it. This example presumes that you've identified someone who is posing as someone who is already your friend.
There's no shortage of "like and share" posts. The problem with most of them is they're fake. One of the more recent ones claims that Facebook limits your news feed to 26 (or some other small number) of people!
Here's what the phony post says you should do, but please don't!
"It WORKS!! I have a whole new news feed. I’m seeing posts from people I haven’t seen in years. Here’s how to bypass the system FB now has in place that limits posts on your news feed. Their new algorithm chooses the same few people – about 25 – who will read your posts. Therefore, I ask you all a favor so I can see your news feed and you can see mine.
Hold your finger down anywhere in this post and 'copy' will pop up. Click 'copy'. Then go your page, start a new post and put your finger anywhere in the blank field. 'Paste' will pop up and click 'paste'. This will bypass the system."
Facebook did make some changes earlier this year, but not to eliminate personal content you want to see. Facebook has denied the friend limit. Snopes has debunked it. And still people follow the instructions.
It is not true. It's a phony. So what's the point?
The creeps who start these phony posts want them to go viral. And the point of that is that the creeps can then monetize the account they created to send the phony messages.
The best thing to do: Just ignore them. Even posting a snarky comment about the fake post adds to the fake post's activity. If a friend posts one of these phony messages, the right thing to do is contact that person directly and explain why forwarding the message helps only the crooks who posted it originally.
If you're interested in paying more than $1300 for a phone, Samsung has the Galaxy Note 9 for you. The selling price is $1250, but there's tax on top of that.
The phones are available now for pre-order and Samsung is eying business users. The phones will be available in blue and lavender. The blue one comes with a yellow pen and the lavender model has a lavender pen. The S-Pen will have a Bluetooth connection so that it can be used for more than just writing on the screen.
There are 2 models -- 128GB and 512GB. The smaller (maybe "less huge" would be a better description) comes with 6GB of RAM and the larger one has 8GB. Either will accept a 512GB SD card.
The phones have a 4000 mAh battery and Samsung says the phones can easily run for 24 hours of heavy use.
Samsung introduced the concept of a dual camera with the Galaxy Note 8 and the Galaxy Note 9 adds what Samsung calls a "scene optimizer" that determines what kind of scene is being photographed and matches settings to the 20 defined scene types. It will also recognize a problem if a subject blinks and warns about a dirty lens or camera shake.
Security is improved, too, with Knox 3.2 that separates personal data from business data. Corporate IT managers will like this feature.
The 128GB version will sold by Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, Sam's Club, Straight Talk Wireless, Target, and Walmart. The 512GB version will be available from "select retail locations", AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and US Cellular. Both models will be sold on-line at Samsung.com.
The creators of On1 Photo Raw have created some on-line resources that can be helpful even if you don't use their software. The training videos illustrate their software when showing how to process images, but some of the videos on their blog address processes that occur before photos are taken or during the shoot.
One recent example describes tips and tricks used to photograph waterfalls. Once you've captured some waterfall images, the tonality and other visual aspects can be modified using a photo editing application, but it's important to get a good image in the camera.
Another recent video discusses the problems involved in taking photographs in a cluttered location or where the background is distracting. Photographer Tamara Lackey describes how to set up the shot for best results.
Or what about photographing fast-moving subjects? Pets, people, wildlife, and automobiles can all move quickly, so it's important to get the settings right in camera. In a new episode of Tamara Lackey's "How to Photograph Everything" series, she takes photographs of dogs as they maneuver in an obstacle course. Lackey provides tips and techniques for getting the highest quality action photos.
The sessions are available on the company's blog.
