# How Does the Facebook Friend-Request scam work? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 14, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-facebook-friend-request-scam-work/851794 "2020-04-14T20:50:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-facebook-friend-request-scam-work/851794/21 "2020-04-18T01:01:22Z")
[[R]oughly 126 million Americans may have been exposed to content generated on its platform by the Russian government-linked troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency between June 2015 and August 2017, CNN has learned. That estimate, which is equivalent to more than half of the total U.S. voting population, offers a new understanding of the scope of Russia’s use of social media to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and in American society generally.](https://money.cnn.com/2017/10/30/media/russia-facebook-126-million-users/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-facebook-friend-request-scam-work/851794/22 "2020-04-18T01:06:11Z")
[Perhaps you remember the Internet Research Agency from Mueller’s report](https://intelligence.house.gov/social-media-content/)? ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-facebook-friend-request-scam-work/851794/23 "2020-04-18T03:13:01Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > [[R]oughly 126 million Americans may have been exposed to content generated on its platform by the Russian government-linked troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency between June 2015 and August 2017, CNN has learned. That estimate, which is equivalent to more than half of the total U.S. voting population, offers a new understanding of the scope of Russia’s use of social media to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and in American society generally.](https://money.cnn.com/2017/10/30/media/russia-facebook-126-million-users/index.html) Do you even read the articles you post? “Facebook does not know, however, how many of those 126 million people actually saw one of those posts, or how many may have scrolled past it or simply not logged in on the day that one of the posts was being served in their News Feed.” (OR may have seen the ads, but ignored them completely or thought they were stupid and laughed at them.) Facebook says in its testimony that the posts from those pages represented “a tiny fraction of the overall content on Facebook.” Do you understand what "tiny fraction means? “This equals about four-thousandths of one percent (0.004%) of content in News Feed, or approximately 1 out of 23,000 pieces of content,” Stretch writes. “Put another way, if each of these posts were a commercial on television, you’d have to watch more than 600 hours of television to see something from the IRA.” four-thousandths of one percent (0.004%) of content in News Feed"!!! “accounts spent approximately $100,000 on more than 3,000 ads between June 2015 and August 2017” " Russian government had bought $4,700 worth of search and display ads, and that accounts with Russian internet addresses or using Russian currency purchased another $53,000 worth of ads" Where are your BILLIONS??? Where exactly is your proof that the ads work "really, really well? And what about your BREXIT claims? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-facebook-friend-request-scam-work/851794/24 "2020-04-18T12:56:03Z")
It is incredibly clear that **Mangosteen** is a denialist. Links to things like the Mueller Report aren’t going to have any effect at all. I am not going to waste my time on someone that disregards such _widely_ known facts. It’s like arguing with Flat Earthers. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-facebook-friend-request-scam-work/851794/25 "2020-04-18T17:23:14Z")
In other words you have nothing to back up your allegations. If they are so “widely known”, they would be easy to find. Just post them. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-facebook-friend-request-scam-work/851794/26 "2020-04-18T19:54:55Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > I’ve been getting a lot of friend requests on Facebook from young ladies (going by the profile pictures) whose mammalian credentials are in no doubt. I think I have an idea what the scam there might be. Not really a “scam” in most cases. They want to you to pay to see them nude. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-facebook-friend-request-scam-work/851794/27 "2020-04-18T22:30:41Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not really a “scam” in most cases. They want to you to pay to see them nude. Probably nothing as straightforward as that. There are plenty of websites for that. More likely to curry a “friendship” with you. Then in few months their mother will need an operation, or their sister will need some medicine, and you will be the only one they can turn to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-facebook-friend-request-scam-work/851794.md?page=1)