Facebook ‘Cloning’ scam will steal identity and money

Facebook Users are warned to check if their identity is stolen or not. A new scam has surfaced using the process called as 'Cloning'. A Cybercriminal set-up a brand new account in your name, new but identical and targeting friends and family for money.

The Cloned account will look almost similar which they would replicate the personal bio to the most recent status updates.

Danielle Hatfield, a social media expert and owner of Experience Farm told: "Maybe they’re trying to get you to send them money". She added that "However, other scammers are trying to do something a little more nefarious, and that steals your identity."

Once they have completed their setup, they would start approaching our dearest ones asking for money since they find the profile so genuine.

Even they get convinced they are talking to you as the hackers mimic your style of communication with the help of you Status updates.

According to the news published by express.co.uk, "Some users have reported incidents of these cloned accounts claiming to have received a $50 million grant from the US government and they want to share the news on how others can receive the same."

American media news encountered, A women named Yvonne Allen who tried this three times but ended in losing the money.

Facebook Users are advised to check if the person sending the friend request is already on their list or not and could avoid a major fake scam. Better change your privacy settings to be visible only to approved friends.

For newer posts just change from Public to Friends while sharing the status or photo. For older ones it's done by accessing Settings ->privacy tab -> Limit the audience for posts you've shared with friends of friends or Public?-> Enable Limit Old Posts. It allows only your friends to see your posts. Better update it to avoid the cloning scam.