How Many of Your Facebook Friends Are Undercover Cops Watching you?

Have you ever logged into your Facebook and noticed a new friend request from someone who you don’t recognize? Maybe it’s an account with a profile pic of an attractive Boy or Girl who you have no mutual friends with yet seems to want to be your friend! New information has been coming out that indicates that these accounts could be undercover police detectives looking to spy on your account and gain access to your group of friends.

Now that the Los Angeles Police Commission has approved new guidelines that allow LAPD to vastly expand its online spying operations, you should think twice before you accept a friend request from someone who you don’t know. Tech.Mic reports the following

“Local agents put on a “digital mask” and pose as “members of the community,” allowing them to gather personal information about suspects they consider a high risk of being involved in a future crime or have existing charges.”

In a recent article by the Business Insider, one police officer stated the following story

““I was looking for a suspect related to drug charges for over a month. When I looked him up on Facebook and requested him as a friend from a fictitious profile, he accepted,” and “he kept ‘checking in’ everywhere he went, so I was able to track him down very easily.”

The New York Times has reported that Police Officers will often use photos of young attractive women to get individuals to accept them as friends. Now before you panic and begin slashing through your friend list, there is a few ways you can spot an account that could be police. Here is a list created by website Copblock.org

1. Account was made recently 2014, 2015.
2. Account has no history published for earlier years, but Facebook says they have been a member since 2009, etc.
3. Most fake accounts have 1 image or no real profile photo of the person. Some may only have a select few photos over a long span of time. A well seasoned user would have more photos posted over a long period of time. A fake account may have 7-10 photos posted on the same day.
4. User has very few friends in common and or friends in general.
5. There is little to no interaction on their page with friends, no comments, likes or responses over their long time line.
6. Profile picture seems to good to be true, that hot model added you today! They even messaged you and are interested in you!
7. When in doubt use reverse image search. Take their image and see if it is a real person or not.
8. When in doubt deny, deny, deny.

Use the above information to vet your friends and friend requests. Do you have a friend who is a undercover Cop who is watching everything you do?