Reader Mail: Facebook Hacker on the Loose?

Reader toddisgone writes: I just got a scary e-mail from a friend of mine. There's a hacker with the e-mail address [withheld] who's asking people to add him on Facebook, and if you add him, he’ll be able to hack your computer. Have you heard of any more like this? How do I protect myself?

Dear toddisgone: Yes, I have heard of the Facebook hacker—and relax, it's just a hoax. A stranger on Facebook might try to convince you to download a virus (although you'd never download a file from a stranger, right?), but they can't crack into your PC just by being your Facebook buddy.

Indeed, a quick search on urban legend site Snopes turned this one up almost immediately, and apparently this particular hoax has been making its way around the Net (in one form or another) for about seven years. Originally, the e-mails warned about a "hacker" (whose e-mail address is always listed) asking people to check out his new Web page—a page that'll supposedly infect your hard drive if you're gullible enough to visit it. (Yes, there are malicious Web sites that can exploit vulnetabilities in your browser, but they've never been reported in these cases.) A few years later, the e-mail forwards started warning against adding specific users to your IM buddy list (AIM, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, take your pick); now the new thing is social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Here's an example from Snopes:

If somebody called bm_tnoo7@hotmail.com adds you to their facebook account DONT accept it because its a hacker. Tell everyone on your list because if somebody on your list adds them you get them on your list he'll figure out your ID computer address. So copy and paste this message to everyone even if you hate them and fast because if he hacks their mail he hacks yours.

So, what's the scam here? Pretty basic, Snopes explains: probably just someone exacting a little revenge (for crimes real or imagined) on the "hacker" in question. Ah yes...the methods change, but the motives stay the same.

Related:
Stranger Contact [Snopes.com]