Ex making Facebook account?

[DevonshireDumpling1]

Hi all.

Had a random friend request on Sunday from someone who messaged to say that they recently asked if I had moved to the area? I don’t know this person?
I messaged back saying yes I had…..

and then I asked why did you message…. And they replied back saying they were single?

I looked into this profile further, had 3 other friends based in America?
Their profile picture changed that day but they were following their ex partner (before me) brother?

What do you think their motive is here?

I don't know (could be an ex, could also be someone phishing) but why are you interacting with them? Block and move on.

If you don't know this person why would you message him and why do you care? Just don't accept the friend request and if he carries on messaging, block him

Why do you think it's an ex if you say you don't know who they are, or am I misunderstanding?

Keep any social media private and don’t respond to messages from people you don’t know personally. Simple advice given in school to children, it applies here OP!

The name on the account is a name that is not familiar to me. The profile picture is from google as I have googled a descriptive of the photo and comes up straight away.

OK, but that still doesn't explain why you think it's an ex unless he's got form. I get random FB requests constantly but I've never thought it was an ex

That’s a fake profile. It sounds like they’ve hacked your ex’s profile and using it to set up a new account with a view to scamming you at some point in the future. Depending on how your ex has their account set up the hammer will have been able to access his FB friends and send them requests from the new site it’s explains why their ex is on there as well. Next think you know they’re scraping your account and friending all your friends - unfriend and block this person. It is highly unlikely to be your ex.

Why on earth are you answering strangers unsolicited questions on line? It's a spammer, a scammer or your ex, none of whom you want to interact with presumably so block and ignore

As someone who works in financial crime I say NEVER respond to unsolicited messages from online strangers. Almost certainly a scammer setting up fake profiles and spamming FB to see who responds and goes on the potential scamming targets list.

Why on earth would you reply to an obvious fake profile let alone give it a second thought?

What does googled a descriptive mean?

If I get a friend request from someone I dont know I assume they clicked on error or thought I was someone else with the same name. Often they are American oddly

Block and move on

Why would you even respond to a friend request from someone you don't know?

I get friend requests from randoms and just ignore or block them. Why in the world would you respond to a stranger? It's setting you up to eventually ask for money probably.

It’s often a starting point test to see who’s naive enough to respond. Same as the lost dog/missing grandad ‘bump this post’ ones

Seems harmless but anyone who responds is seen as someone who can be targeted for future scams.

Any unsolicited requests on DM - block immediately

Easy peasy. They will next tell you that they are an American architect working on a large government contract and that they saw you and fell in love with you. Over the course of the next few weeks they will tell you that you are the apple of their eye and that they are planning to visit as soon as their big government project is finished. You make plans, you look forward to their visit. Then they disappear for a few days/weeks. You worry. Next thing, they appear and tell you that one of their employees had an accident on the building site and your mystery men is now faces with a large insurance claim/prison sentence. And can they please borrow some money. They send you a copy of the government contract to show that they have a large payout coming and as soon as they get it, you will be paid back. You transfer the funds. A few weeks later, they message again saying that an important piece of equipment broke and they need to order a part which costs roughly the value of your house. They can't continue the project without this part and could you please go to the bank and remortgage your house. It is only temporary - as soon as the machine is working, they will get paid and will transfer you the money back...
Rinse and repeat.
Six months later you are out on the street and 500k in debt. The man of your dreams in dead and his "brother" is asking you for some money for the funeral. Does it answer your question?

Why would you engage with some random person on FB? Weird….

Even more weird presuming a FB spammer is an ex 🤦‍♀️

This is a common fb romance scam. They tend to be american, few friends, photos of themselves looking butch/rugged and usually widowed and ex-military!
Do not respond or interact.
Report and block. Stay safe online!!

As others have said- “using the Internet 101”- don’t reply to people
you don’t know online and especially who clearly have a fake picture from Google. - why would you?! They’re fishing for responses and interactions for a future purpose - either marketing, “join my xxx misinformation group”, financial crime or whatever - but if you don’t know them just don’t reply. No need to dwell on the “why” as it isn’t personal against you, just some sort of algorithm or bot sending blanket requests. Don’t tell them anything about yourself, block and move on, report to FB if you are really suspicious.

You sound a bit naive OP. There’s lots of fake profiles on Facebook. Just block and ignore them.

It's not an ex.

It is one of those randoms looking to make you fall in love with them. They are in the secret service / have a family member who needs a life-saving operation / they are in a dangerous country and have no money for a flight and they want to come and meet you because they love you so much etc etc etc etc. And they want you to send them some money. Lots of money.

Block and forget.

Far too many people respond to those they do not know. A mate a few weeks ago responded to a 'girl' who whatsapp messaged him. I said to him it was a scam and 2 days later 'i need money'. If you suspect they are an ex, they are an ex for a reason and them 'hiding' is not the best re introduction. Block and move on.