Tips for deleting and reporting unwarranted Facebook invitations

I have had about twenty-six offers this year alone to become friends or “like” fictitious persons/entities who show up on Facebook Most of them fit the lewd category with vulgar offers  including profanity and obscene material. Most of the time these offers are already removed by Facebook for obvious reasons, catching the eyes of a moderator at Facebook. If you do friend such persons before they are removed, you risk identity being stolen, or worse yet becoming a victim of a scammer. A portion of these Facebook invitation offers, however, include persons that steal company identities, logos, direct website material from unsuspecting companies for reasons of tricking you into thinking that they are either the company or affiliated with the company they portray to be. Then to make matters worse, after they trick you, they steal either monetarily, or your identity..Then after you’re broken down, they have you think that they the company that they stole an identity with. As a business owner, I take pride in what I do. For a criminal to come by and steal my copy-written materials, and use them to get the best of unsuspecting people leaves me distraught.

I am sharing a video of my friend Dave of Vermont Nature Creations – Hanging Water Gardens who I have been following for years. Dave takes pride in what he does being in the decorative unique indoor garden industry, and had the above scenario happen to his business. The video shows what to look for when you get a Facebook invitation, and once you identify that it is a bogus invitation–what to do to report it, and properly delete the invitation so that another one can’t be resent. It is most important to know that on Facebook, the crucial clue that it is NOT the person or entity on the invitation, is that the spelling of the name be absolutely correct. A business will rarely ever misspell the name of their company or personal name!!

The video is shared on my blog with Dave’s permission on a campaign to curtail unauthorized use of materials and copyright infringement. Dave and I completely agree that there is a need to educate the public of what to do to protect your best interest and especially your wallet.

The Facebook Bandit…Be Aware!!