zlacker

>>c420+(OP)
Sounds like the idea is that the fake profiles are created so they can make mass "friend requests". Then, when those friend requests are accepted by some amount of your actual friends, it unlocks more access to your data. Or even more if you're fooled and accept one of the fake profiles as a friend/follower.

I guess NYPD's way around people that don't make their profiles fully public.

It would be interesting if Facebook is willing to punish/ban/etc not just the companies directly doing this, but their clients as well.

>>tyingq+W4
You raise an interesting point. Friend requests. I remember some researchers set up a fake profile of a woman who worked for the US department of defense. The profile was inundated with men requesting friendship connections.

I don't accept a friend request unless I actually know the person. Do people randomly accept these requests knowing nothing about the other person than what is on their profile?

>>Simula+66
> Do people randomly accept these requests knowing nothing about the other person than what is on their profile?

Yes, most people don't have a million friends on social media and will take what they can get, and the age-old honeypot tactic will never not work. If an attractive person shows interest in someone, they'll probably take it.

>>heavys+e7
That's really odd to me. My Facebook friends are people I know from real life. Every so often I get random accounts (usually attractive women in random locations with no mutual friends) trying to add me and I will report them as spammers.

>>Middle+Ec
I'm the same way, but the platforms incentivize the collecting of friends and have like a decade+ of gameification features to promote it.