How to remove Facebook Friend Request virus

Facebook Friend Request virus – a malicious activity that is typically related to account hijacking

Facebook Friend Request virus is a malicious ^[1] message that could arrive at any time on this social media platform. While this activity is not unusual when sent from somebody who actually wants to be friends, there are several friend requests that are sent out for malicious reasons. For example, users' personal information accessible to friends might be targeted and later used in a phishing scheme to infect them with malware or extort money.

Possibly the most prevalent issue that users encounter is that their accounts begin to send friend requests automatically. This typically means that your machine has been infected with the Friend Request virus and that several steps should be taken to recover your account and clear the device from malware. 

Also, scammers might be using your public photos and posts to create a fake version of your account and use it to contact your real friends with the intention to swindle money^[2] or personal information from them.

If this sending friend requests issue has been bothering you for a while, you have been involved in the malicious scam associated with these request messages. This phenomenon belongs to the malware category known as Facebook virus, and it is used to scam inattentive social media users by sending out friend requests without one's knowledge.

Friend Request virus can be associated with a variety of scams and malware. Threat actors typically use social engineering to make users give away their login credentials or make them click on malware-laden links. To sum it up, an unexpected friend request from somebody that might even know you might end up with a hijacked Facebook account, financial losses, malware infections, or even identity theft.

The fake requests are bothering people for over a decade

The virus is spread through the Facebook social media platform by sending friend requests to a user's existing friends. Once the friend request is accepted, the virus can gain access to the infected user's personal information and can spread to other accounts by sending out new friend requests. These viruses can also spread through messages, links, or attachments, which, when clicked, can install malware on the user's device or redirect the user to a phishing website. 

The Friend Request virus was first spotted making rounds in 2013 and improved over the years. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the principle of the scam remains the same – send friend requests for malicious purposes. Security experts^[3] claim that threat actors create fake profiles and send friend requests to users in order to extort their personal information, infect them with malware, or make them targets of future phishing campaigns.

The viruses and scams associated with suspicious friend requests on this giant social media network can be divided into several categories. Let's review each of them to learn what to expect from them and how to avoid or remove the virus.

2020 came with more news^[4] about this virus and a few other versions of this malware that include “Hi….I actually got another friend request from you yesterday…which I ignored, so you may want to check your account…” message. This particular October version even raised the attention of the officials of the Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Office^[5].

The official post about this scam reads:

Your account isn’t sending duplicate friend requests. And you didn’t receive a request from the person you’re forwarding it to.
You’re simply doing it because the message tells you to.

DON’T.

Otherwise, you become one of the reasons why the hoax is spreading so fast.

There was a cloning epidemic on Facebook 18 months or so ago. That was genuine.
And people still do get hacked.

The message that went viral these past few days is different, however:
It urges you to forward it to “all the people you want to forward to” – which many take to mean all their friends.

Versions of the Friend Request virus

Facebook sending friend requests automatically

Is Facebook sending friend requests without your knowledge/permission? If yes, it is clear that your account is unprotected and someone has permission to add new friends on your behalf. In most cases, the culprit is a malicious app that asked for such permissions before you started using it. You may have given the app the permissions without actually reading them – it happens quite often.

If you are looking for a solution to “Facebook adding friends for me” problem, we can provide one. To stop the social network from adding friends for you, you must delete the app that has permission to add new friends to you. We provide a method that helps to revoke app permissions using the web, not a mobile app.

1. Log into your account.
2. Click on the small arrow in the top right corner of the screen on the blue toolbar. Select Settings.
3. Now, look at the left side of the screen and find Apps section. Click on it. This will take you to App Settings.
4. Here, you will see a list of apps below “Logged in with Facebook” section. Click Show all to expand the list. Hover your mouse over suspicious apps and click on X that appears next to them. You can also choose to delete all activities (including posts, photos, and videos created with or posted via the app). Click Remove to confirm.
5. Repeat until all suspicious apps are gone.

Facebook Fake Friend Request virus

This deceitful technique relies on fake user accounts that are created using real photos of a certain user. Scammers track down a person that posts content publicly and steals private photos from him or her.

They create fake accounts and post pictures and even copy-paste original status messages posted by the victim. All of this is done in order to make an illusion of a real account, which scammers later use to mislead victims' friends and swindle money from them. Typically, scammers create software that sends out friend requests to all victim's friends and later on sends delusive messages asking to lend money.

What is more, such a Friend Request virus can send a malicious link to the victim's friends, asking them to click on it and see something interesting. This trickery is quite efficient because the victim's friends trust the real person and want to see what they share. However, clicking on such links is highly dangerous because these sites can be filled with malicious content.

Deceptive websites seek to force users to provide sensitive data or install harmful programs, so be careful! If your friend ever sends you a message with a link to a suspicious website, ask him or her if the website is trustworthy.

Typically, scammers do not reply, but even if they do, we suggest you check the profile of your friend – enter their name into the search and see if it finds one or two same profiles. The most obvious sign that you are dealing with malware is that the person who has just sent you a friend request already sends links inviting you to explore some suspicious websites or give money. 

However, your computer can also be infected with such a virus if you click on a link sent by a stranger or even a friend whose account was compromised. Usually, such links lead to a website that suggests adding a browser extension or installing an update “in order to watch the content.”

Message forward hoax

This virus raised awareness again when the news came about suspicious messages and friend requests in the fall of 2018. Facebook Help Community even published a post about the version and warned about strange activities on the social platform. The more recently discovered campaign delivers hoax messages directly to users, and the profile gets affected this way. 

You may see the following message if your account is compromised:

Hi….I actually got another friend request from you yesterday…which I ignored so you may want to check your account. Hold your finger on the message until the forward button appears…then hit forward and all the people you want to forward too….I had to do the people individually. Good Luck! PLEASE DO NOT ACEPT A NEW ONE FROM ME AT THIS TIME

As a consequence, such malicious software can steal access to your social media account and use it to spread malicious messages to your friends and post deceptive posts on the timeline. In such a case, react if any of your friends report this to you. In addition to that, this type of virus can unblock contacts that you have blocked and add them to your friends again.

To fix this, scan the system with an anti-malware tool and remove Facebook Friend Request virus immediately. You can use different anti-malware software for its removal, for instance, SpyHunterCombo Cleaner. After that, remove unwanted contacts manually.

Spot a spoofer: avoid being tricked by online scam

Social engineering^[6] is a widely used practice among cybercriminals – they exploit people's minds to achieve their malicious deeds. By composing a message that would touch a sensitive subject, crooks manipulate users and make them click on links, provide personal information, or have Facebook or other social media account hijacked.

Luckily, there are several red flags that indicate deception – and they are definitely worth checking, even when the message seems only slightly odd or is coming from somebody you seemingly already know.

The previously described Facebook Fake Friend Requests are created with the help of publicly available pictures and other published information. To mitigate the threat, you should set your friend list not to be visible to everybody – the attacker will not be able to exploit public pictures of your friends to trick you. Here's how to prevent anyone from seeing your friend list:

1. Log in to your account
2. Go to Account > Settings & Privacy > Settings
3. In the settings window, click on Privacy on the left
4. In the How People Find and Contact You section, pick the Edit button (next to Who can see your friends list?)
5. Select Only me from the drop-down menu and pick Close.

Additionally, you should always check the account that is sending you a friend request – a hoax account will typically have no posts. To protect yourself from malware infections after accidentally clicking on a malicious link, equip your computer with powerful anti-malware software – we recommend using SpyHunterCombo Cleaner or MalwarebytesMalwarebytes.

Common distribution methods

The virus attacks Facebook's users via instant messaging. You may receive a misleading message that looks like it belongs to your friend and offers to click on a link in order to see a picture or watch a video.

Besides, clicking on every app you see may also lead you to the infiltration of this virus because they are hacked by cybercriminals quite often. Once the virus is activated, it starts sending requests to unfamiliar people and may also start accepting all pending friend requests that you ignored previously.

We also want to warn you that social media is not an entirely safe place, and there are some minor adjustments you can make to protect yourself and your friends. First of all, we strongly recommend you make your friends list private. If it is public, scammers can easily access it and send deceptive messages to them while pretending it is you. Besides, it is advisable to keep sensitive information private. If you can, make your photos accessible for friends only, too.

Frequently asked questions

Question: I think that Facebook is sending friend requests without my knowledge. How can I stop this? I used to delete the sent requests manually, but more and more appear every day. There must be a method to put an end to this!

Answer: Dear visitor, there are two things that you need to do to stop the social network from automatically sending friend requests and ensure that it never happens again. First of all, you must revoke permissions from malicious apps and then scan your computer for malware that you may have installed lately. Use the tutorial provided by us to secure your account and remove malware from your PC.

Question: I keep receiving random friend requests on Facebook – is that a virus? How can I know if my account is secure? Maybe my profile is included in target lists for scammers? Can you help me to figure this out? I once received a request from someone who was using my pictures!

Answer: Dear visitor, everyone receives random requests from time to time. You shouldn't worry too much about them – just ignore them or reject them. However, the fact that you received a friend request from a “fake” you indicates that your content is shared publicly and you need to take certain measures to protect it.

We highly recommend going to Facebook Settings > Privacy and change the Who can see my stuff? settings from “Public” to “Friends Only.” You can also limit the audience for posts that you have already shared.

Terminate the Friend Request virus

If you notice strange people popping up on your friend list out of nowhere, or if you see that something suspicious has been posted on your wall without your knowledge, it can be a sign of malware presence.

As we have already mentioned, you should revoke app permissions using the tutorial we provided and then check your system for malicious or spyware-type programs that might be illegally controlling your account.

Also, you must change your password. However, you should do this after Facebook Friend Request virus removal. Clean the system further using SpyHunterCombo Cleaner or MalwarebytesMalwarebytes in case this malware adds other malicious or possibly dangerous programs or files to the system. Finish the process by running FortectIntego and fixing system damage. You can also rely on the manual elimination guide provided by our experts below.