Chill: Your Facebook Account (Probably) Hasn’t Been Cloned

Facebook has been a busy place this weekend. You've probably gotten one, or a dozen, or maybe a hundred messages from friends and acquaintances warning you that you've been hacked.

Turns out, it's a hoax.

So let's get this straight. It's a hoax warning you about a hoax?

Another version starts off like this:

"Heads-up!! Almost every account is being cloned. Your picture and your name are used to create a new face book account (they don't need your password to do this this)...."

(Notice the double "this" at the end? Notice Facebook incorrectly expressed as "face book" without capitalization and as two words?

Both versions instruct readers to forward the message on to all their friends. Riiiiight... I'll get riiiiight on that.

The hoax is essentially a chain-letter scam designed to trick you into forwarding the false messages to all your Facebook contacts.

But there's a pretty easy way to determine if your account has been cloned. Simply type your name into the search box at the top of Facebook's homepage. If you do see your name and picture appear more than once, it's a pretty good indication that you have indeed been hacked. Otherwise, you're probably fine.

For more on this topic, take a look at this Facebook help page.