Facebook is a great place to see the latest pictures of your grandkids, check up on that friend from high-school, participate in community and school groups, and stay connected with the latest news from your family.
It’s also a great place for people with bad intentions to install malware on your computer, or, worse yet, impersonate you with a fake profile and scam your friends and family.
The biggest entry point for these people are through Facebook apps. These are usually disguised as quizzes like “Which Harry Potter House Would You Be Sorted Into?”
They can also try and trick you into clicking videos like “Check out the video that is shocking the world!”, and “You’ll never believe what happens next!”
While many quizzes are legitimate and fun, you should always be wary of any Facebook app that wants access to your profile. If an app wants access to your profile, be sure that you are aware of what it is asking for and understand that these apps, if given the proper permissions, can post to your wall without you knowing it, spam your friends’ walls and emails, and use your pictures in any way that they see fit. Luckily you can remove these apps by going into Settings, which is located in the menu that appears when you click on the downward-facing arrow next to the ? in the blue bar at the top of your screen.
On the Settings screen you’ll see a left-hand menu option for Apps. Click on that. Then you will see all of the apps you have authorized in the main part of the page. To remove one, simply hover over it with the cursor and click on the X that appears to remove it.
If you don’t want to remove the app you can click the little pencil icon next to the X and then edit the permissions that the app has to your profile.
Dealing with Facebook impersonators is a rare issue but it has been a problem for many people. These bad people will grab a photo of you from your page, create a profile with it, add in basic information about you gathered from your real Facebook profile, and then send friends requests to your current friends. Once they have added a few, they’ll reach out as you and usually pester them for money, use their email addresses to send spam, and other nefarious acts. If you come across anyone pretending to be you the first thing you should do is report them to Facebook. Facebook will will eventually take action and shut down the imposter. You should also notify your fiends outside of Facebook if at all possible so they know that you aren’t asking them for money or trying to sell them Ray-Bans for $19.95.
Be wary of the Facebook apps you let into your life. Some are fun and harmless but a few are out there to get you. Knowing the difference between the two will keep you and your friends happy on Facebook.
