‘Sherman Stuurman Friendship Request’ Hacker Hoax
The original site is no longer online; links go to the Internet Archive copy.
The claim
Please tell all the contacts in your messenger list not to accept friendship request from sherman stuurman. 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 THIS Is REAL
What the fact-checkers found
A message that is spreading rapidly on Facebook warns users not to accept a friendship request from a person named Sherman Stuurman because he is a hacker.
According to the message, the hacker has his system connected to your Facebook account. And, warns the message, if one of your friends accepts Sherman Stuurman’s friend request, you will also be hacked.
The message asks you to send the information to all of your friends so they will know about the supposed hacker.
However, the claims in the post are utter nonsense and should not be taken seriously.
In fact, the message is just one more version of the long-running “friendship request” hacker hoax. There have been dozens of versions of this hoax that use different names for the supposed hackers. All of these hoaxes are equally nonsensical.
As I note in more detail in another Hoax-Slayer report, it is not possible for a hacker to take control of your account just because you accept a friend request.
If you receive one of these hoaxes, please do not share it with your friends. Sending on such fake warnings will do nothing whatsoever to help keep you or your friends safe online. And, since these hoaxes often use the names of real people, they can unfairly damage the reputations of ordinary Facebook users who have done nothing wrong.
If this hoax hits your Facebook News Feed, be sure to let the person who posted it know that the hacker warning is false.
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