Cloning

Dolly the cloned sheep circa 1996

Evil doers "clone" Facebook accounts to trick your friends into giving them money or information.   What is cloning?  It's when someone copies your Facebook identity (your name, your picture and the list of all your Facebook friends) and creates a new Facebook account with your name and picture.  Next  they send a new friend request to your existing Facebook friends. 

You can prevent your account from being cloned.  The steps below provide you the information you need to protect your account.  Note:  the instructions below were created in 2017 on a Windows 10 PC.  Using these instructions from a cell phone, Mac or other device likely won't work as shown; use your favorite search engine (google, bing, etc.) to search for steps on your specific device.

1.  Make your facebook account profile picture private.  Anyone can download your profile picture unless you protect it.  Evil doers use your unprotected profile picture to create a new account with your likeness.  Here's how to protect your profile picture:
     a.  Open Facebook.
     b.  Click on your Profile Picture to open your profile.

     c.  Below your name you will see a date, person symbol and a down arrow.  Click the down arrow:

     d.  Change from Public to "Only Me" or "Friends".  Selecting Only Me is the ultimate in protection, others will not be able to comment on your profile picture or download it.  Selecting Friends will allow anyone on your Facebook friend list to comment and/or download your profile picture.   (Verify the check is in front of Only Me or Friends as consistent with your level of comfort)

      e.  Repeat the process for all your profile pictures by scrolling through every one of them and changing the privacy setting for each picture.

      f.  Here's a nice tutorial if you need more details:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKpRpA_reTw

2.  Protect the privacy of your Facebook friend list.
       a.  Open Facebook.
       b.  Open your profile  (Click on your name as shown below).

       c.  When your profile opens click "Friends" near the top of the page:

       d.  Click the pencil icon as shown below then click "Edit Privacy":

        e.  Modify the privacy of your Friends list.  "Only Me" prevents anyone from seeing your list of Friends.  Selecting "Friends" allows anyone who is your Facebook friend to see your list.  Select the option that you're comfortable with:

That was easy!