Fake Facebook Friends

Facebook can be an awesome tool to reconnect with old friends and make new ones. I’ve also seen the social media platform abused. One thing I won’t tolerate is people being deceptive with me online. 

Three days ago, it appeared I received a friend request from the son of a female missionary. In the past, I had issues with this woman but opted to accept her son’s request. Then I received a friend request from the woman, plus a message explaining she sent the friend request through her son’s account. It turns out he hates Facebook and no longer uses it. After waiting a couple of days to decide what to do, I deleted her friend request and disconnect from her son’s account.


Scammers have set up fake social media accounts of well-known ministers in hopes of receiving money from undiscerning donors. Once I received a friend request from someone impersonating Bill Winston, a megachurch pastor in the Chicago area. What really raised red flags in my mind was the account “liking” four pages of the Holy Mother Mary. Pastor Bill wouldn’t promote the worship of the earthly mother of Jesus.


One famous person I received a Facebook friend request from is actress Jennifer O’Neill. She is probably best known for her role in “Summer of ’42.” Jennifer later got saved and has starred in numerous Christian movies including “The Ride”, which I helped promote while working for Billy Graham’s film ministry. Jennifer’s Facebook account looked legit. Still, I sent a message through her website to make sure her friend request was the real deal. Jennifer replied with a nice email confirming it was her.


Earlier this week, I received a friend request supposedly from Elon Musk, and noticed some suspicious things:

  • The account stated Elon lives in Austin, Texas. A Google search revealed he has a home in a different part of the Lone Star State. 
  • The account doesn’t have a legitimate profile photo. I clearly state on my Facebook page a potential friend must have one (“Elon” even liked my list of rules). 
  • The account listed only 16 friends. The average person knows 100 people. Most folks will go through their circle of influence before possibly reaching out to strangers. 
  • I googled, “Does Elon Musk use Facebook?” The AI Overview replied, “No, Elon Musk does not use or have any accounts on Facebook and has publicly stated his dislike for the platform, calling it ‘lame’. He also deleted the official Facebook pages for his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, in 2018 in response to a boycott over data privacy concerns.”

I reported the fake account to Facebook. Just over an hour passed before they replied claiming, “…the profile doesn’t violate our Community Standards.” Really? I doubt that a live person even reviewed my report. In this case, AI could mean “Artificial Ignorance.”


Don’t get too excited if it appears you receive a friend request from a famous person. Unless you happen to know that celebrity, it’s probably an imposter who at best has too much time on his hands. More than likely, it’s a cyberthief trying to steal from you. 


“lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.” - 2 Corinthians 2:11

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