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Enough with the messages, people!
By Arianna Jeret — Written on Jul 10, 2017
Yesterday morning I received a panicky message via Facebook Messenger containing the following warning:
"Please tell all the contacts in your messenger list not to accept Jayden K. Smith friendship request. 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."
It seemed particularly odd logic to me that forwarding information about a hacker to my entire contact list could be considered a smart way to protect myself or any of my social media contacts from a scam, so I ignored the message and moved on with my day.
Later in the afternoon, I received the same exact message from another FB friend. And then this morning, I received it again from yet another.
I decided to check in with the people I work with. Yep. They'd all received it as well and found it as odd and, frankly, annoying, as I did. Time to head to Google to find out WTF this Jayden thing is all about.
Turns out the message is a hoax (duh), and that there is no actual hacker named Jayden K. Smith stalking all of us who are on Messenger (also, duh).
According to an article in the Telegraph, the latest viral scam isn't even a new one.
"The message is a common hacker warning that often gets recycled online, with different variations of the name. Others include Anwar Jitou, Tanner Dwyer and Bobby Roberts. The message does contain many of the elements of a viral hoax: a sensational warning, the prospect of devastating consequences, and a prompt to share it widely."
The above-referenced article links to a page on trusted debunker-site Snopes, which explains:
"Of course, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that an e-mail message or a link posted on Facebook might carry a virus payload which could infect your computer and allow it be controlled by a botnet, but virus warnings that correspond to the patterns detailed above can be safely dismissed as japes."
So, no, there is no man or woman out there named Jayden K. Smith foaming at the mouth awaiting the precious details belonging to each of your contacts.
However, while Jayden K. Smith is NOT a hacker, he does exist.
And lots of us are feeling kind of bad for him and the unfortunate witch trail on which he now finds himself ...
"Poor Jayden K Smith. He probably has ZERO Facebook friends now. He should write a book about the ordeal."
In fact, there are several people out there bearing this name — and they are NOT happy about the public scrutiny, thank you very much.
"No one wants to be my friend."
"To all those sending me hate messages I hope you know you came looking for me. I did not message you."
"im lonely
you should friend me"
"i am not related to jade smith."
Which, of course, leads us to Jaden Smith, son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith ...
Fortunately for him, there is no "y" in the proper spelling of his name, and his full name is Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, so no "k" there to speak of either.
The 19-year-old star in his own right can be reasonably considered off the hook. Phew!
And of course, the people of Twitter were all too happy to have a few good laughs at the expense of Facebookers.
"Homeland Security reports they have identified hacker Jayden K Smith"
"I don't know who "Jayden K Smith" is on Facebook but he's sent every middle-aged friend I have into social overdrive"
"Everyone over age 50 getting a Facebook message about Jayden K. Smith."
So rest assured, people.
The world of Facebook is not heading to Hell (yet) in Jayden K. Smith's handbasket.
Do us all favor and pass THAT message along — especially to all of your Facebook friends who are, um, of a certain age ...