# Troubling Facebook friend request
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubling-facebook-friend-request/1005703
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 14, 2024, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubling-facebook-friend-request/1005703 "2024-08-14T13:36:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2024, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubling-facebook-friend-request/1005703/1 "2024-08-14T13:36:19Z")
Every once in a blue moon I’ll get a friend request from some scantily clad lady that I don’t know. I assume they are doing this to direct traffic to their website.
I usually just ignore them no problem.
But this lady in particular liked a couple of posts of mine from like 4 or 5 years ago.
My Facebook is private. The only people that are supposed to be able to see my page or the ones I’ve accepted friend requests from.
So how the heck did she do that?
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2024, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubling-facebook-friend-request/1005703/2 "2024-08-14T13:41:35Z")
I’ll bet those posts have different privacy settings. On those posts, on a desktop, hover over the little icon next to the date and it’ll tell you who can see that specific post. Also, when you change global privacy settings it doesn’t always change settings on previous posts.
Somewhere in your settings you should be able to “view your profile as…” and try viewing it as someone that you aren’t friends with.
ETA, if this “person’s” friend request has been accepted by some of your other friends, they’ll have “friends of friends” status, which, depending on your privacy settings, may allow them an extra level of access.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2024, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubling-facebook-friend-request/1005703/3 "2024-08-14T13:47:34Z")
Yep. Those older posts may not be public, but they may be set on “Friends of Friends”, and one of your Friends actually added “her.”
Because that’s the other reason they add people: to find more people to add. If you accept, then you probably know other people who will.
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2024, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubling-facebook-friend-request/1005703/4 "2024-08-14T14:01:53Z")
Ah okay I vaguely remember messing around with my privacy settings a few years ago. I can’t remember what I was trying to do. But that’s probably what it is.
Okay I feel better I guess. I was worried that maybe my information had been breached.
Thanks guys.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubling-facebook-friend-request/1005703/5 "2024-08-14T14:02:16Z")
Another possibility: One or more of your friends had their page hijacked from some bot or hacker, and they replaced the name and pic with ‘something else.’ I’ve seen that with a number of my friends.
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### Author:  [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2024, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubling-facebook-friend-request/1005703/6 "2024-08-14T14:56:15Z")
Yes that has happened to me recently and I have had to block all 4 of one particular individual’s FB pages. I cannot figure out which one is actually her so they are all blocked until I can figure out what happened.