Tech Talk
Don't Fall for Latest Facebook Stalker Scam
Today, I logged into Facebook and the little globe in the top left corner of my profile page told me I had three notifications. Two were friends commenting on one thing or another, and the third was odd. It was an "invite" from two friends on my list, one of them a very good "real world" friend. It said that they invited me to join something called "Who View Your Profile." The first clue that something was off was the bad grammar: It should be "Who Views Your Profile." But I’m also aware that various scams have hit Facebook via apps claiming that you can find out who is viewing your profile. So I was wary.
However, the fact that this invite seemingly came from two of my friends lent it a certain credibility. Curious, I clicked in and was told that to download the app, I would need to start answering questions. The app was titled "Who Is Stalking You?"
At this point, I quickly clicked back out, worried about what might happen. I then looked up Facebook’s privacy policies. Sure enough, Facebook still maintains that the company does not provide a way for people to see who is viewing your profile. Nor do they allow third party apps to do that.
Let's face it, most of us Facebook stalk occasionally. And there would be a mass uprising if FB ever allowed people to see who exactly is doing the stalking. Though I would be curious to see who is viewing me, I would NOT want others to see that I’m viewing them.
Oddly, when I went back about half an hour after I first saw the invite and clicked into “notifications,” the entire thing had disappeared. Also, my real world friend got back to me, confirming that, no, she had never sent me an invite like this. So be warned, it's all a scam.
However, Facebook is beginning to do some odd things. Like letting people pay in order to have their status updates prioritized. And considering giving access to children under 13. Could the company ever decide to allow people who pay to see who is stalking them? Ugh, now THAT would be evil.
Would you want to know who is viewing you?
Image via English106/Flickr
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Aundria Cooper Premo
KDT7688
I don't click on any of those anyway... but seriously... if you are that hard pressed to know who is looking at your profile 24/7... maybe you aren't mature enough to be on Faceboook in the first place.
Benjamins-mama
I'm sure that there are kids younger than 13 on facebook. How hard is it to just make up a birthdate so they were allowed to join? not hard at all! I miss it when it was only college aged and up.
Cheryl Spires-Baker Duerr
In the words of Rhett Beutler....."frankly my dear, I don't give a damn".
ghostbaby
theresaphilly
No, because I know folks don't like me that much!
Mrs.AdamSarah
I look at it like this, The internet isn't private. Governments probably monitor it, so I post pretty much what i want though I do and pretty much am civilized about it.