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Who’s Jayden K Smith? Whoever he is, can he really hack your Facebook account?

A new viral hoax warns Facebook posters not to accept friend requests from a purported hacker named Jayden K Smith.
A new viral hoax warns Facebook posters not to accept friend requests from a purported hacker named Jayden K Smith. The Associated Press file

Watch out for Jayden K Smith, warns the message. He’s a hacker who will gain access to your Facebook account if you accept his friend request.

Except it’s all nonsense, experts say – just another viral Facebook hoax.

“Please tell all the contacts in your Messenger list, not to accept Jayden K Smith friendship request,” says one form of the hoax, often passed on via Facebook Messenger. “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.”

While it’s not wise to accept friend requests from people you don’t know, there’s no way someone can gain control of your account by being added as a friend, reports The Telegraph. The newspaper reports there’s no sign of any account under that name going on a friend-adding spree, and mass friend requests to unknown users violate Facebook’s rules against spam.

People actually named Jayden K Smith may have been less than thrilled to find themselves starring in a hoax.

Such hoaxes are fairly routine on Facebook, using various names such as Anwar Jitou and Bobby Roberts, the paper says.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped online wags from having some fun with the latest outbreak, including several who connected the bogus name in the hoax to actor Will Smith’s son, Jaden.

This story was originally published July 10, 2017 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Who’s Jayden K Smith? Whoever he is, can he really hack your Facebook account?."

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