If you received a Facebook message from someone you haven't spoken to in a few months - either purposefully or not - about someone named Jayden K Smith, you're no doubt wondering who that is and why said person is messaging you after so long.

As it turns out, it's a good old-fashioned hoax / chain-letter that's made the rounds on Facebook and duped a good few people. The message reads as follows, usually with some kind of variation: "Please tell all the contacts in your messenger list not to accept Jayden K. Smith friendship request. He is a hacker and has the system connected to your Facebook account. If one of your contacts accepts it, you will also be hacked, so make sure that all your friends know it. Thanks. Forwarded as received. Hold your finger down on the message. At the bottom in the middle it will say forward. Hit that then click on the names of those in your list and it will send to them."

As it turns out, the hoax isn't new at all. According to fact-checking website Snopes.com, the hoax - or a variation on it, at least - has been doing the rounds for years and originally came about via e-mail. For the record, there's no way anyone can access your Facebook profile simply by adding them as a Facebook Friend and it's always good practice never to accept requests from people you don't know. As well as this, anyone sending you a sketchy-looking link claiming to get you free flights / cars / money / whatever is usually trying to scam you in some way.

So, yeah, ignore the message and maybe unfriend whoever sent it you while you're at it. You've got enough Facebook friends.

 

Via Snopes.com