Jayden K. Smith Facebook Hoax

About

Jayden K Smith Facebook Hoax refers to a viral message spread on Facebook warning against accepting a friend request from Facebook account with the name Jayden K Smith, as Smith is a hacker and accepting the friend request would allow the person and all of their contacts to be hacked. No such account exists and contacts' information cannot be stolen through a friend request.

Background

The hoax which attempts to make someone refuse an invitation from a named stranger to converse online because they'll implant a computer virus has appeared in various forms for years. Snopes^[1] traces an early version of the hoax to an e-mail chain that circulated in the year 2000. The Jayden K Smith version reads:

"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."

First mentions of Jayden K. Smith appeared on Twitter on July 5th, 2017,^[2] making it the likely date the message began circulating.

Developments

After circulating for a few days, it became apparent the message was a hoax. thatsnonsense.com^[3] reported it as such on July 7th. Several Twitter users began making jokes about Jayden K Smith shortly thereafter. Popular jokes tied the name to the ongoing Russiagate scandal (examples shown below).

The hoax was covered by TechCrunch,^[4] Huffington Post,^[5] The Guardian,^[6] and many more.

Search Interest

External References