Did It: I Accepted the Mystery Friend Request on The Facebook
Well, I did it.
Against the little voice in my head saying, “Niel, you know how these stories usually end,” I clicked Confirm.
Amy Ford and I are now officially friends on The Facebook.
I feel like I should update my relationship status.
For anyone who missed the first chapter, a few days ago I received a friend request from Amy. I had no clue who she was. We had one mutual friend, and her profile raised enough questions that I wrote an entire blog post asking whether I should accept the request or hit Delete.
Curiosity won.
Welcome to the experiment.
First Discovery: Amy Is Still Posting
After accepting the request, I noticed a new post from today about the Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction in New York.
There are pictures of Broadway memorabilia, Playbills, auction items, and the theater.
Okay.
That's certainly more interesting than immediately receiving:
“Hello dear, how are you today?”
Followed seven minutes later by an incredible cryptocurrency opportunity.
So far, so good.
But accepting the request also allowed me to see more of the profile.
And that's when I noticed Amy's résumé.
Amy Is Apparently Very Busy
According to the profile, Amy has not one, not two, but three different employers listed.
She is apparently:
Investor — Gilpin Lodge
Owner — The Lighter Side of Real Estate
HR Specialist — Samsung Global
That's quite a career portfolio.
Investor.
Business owner.
Human Resources professional.
I'm tired just reading it.
And remember, the profile currently shows only 16 Facebook friends.
It seems Amy may have more jobs than friends on The Facebook.
I'm not judging.
Maybe she's simply very career-focused.
Maybe she's an extraordinarily successful multitasker.
Maybe LinkedIn wasn't challenging enough.
Then There's the Rest of the Profile
The information visible to me now says she:
Lives in New York, New York.
Is from Seoul, Korea.
Is single.
Went to the University of Leeds.
Works—or has worked—in those three very different roles.
And she's posting about New York attractions and events.
Does any one of those things prove anything suspicious?
No.
That's important.
People move. People change careers. People have multiple jobs. People don't always maintain large Facebook friend lists. People use English names. And successful people can certainly have unusual career paths.
But taken together with an unsolicited friend request from someone I don't know?
My eyebrow remains raised.
Possibly both eyebrows.
Now We Wait
I'm not messaging Amy.
I'm not asking for a phone number.
I'm not moving the conversation to WhatsApp or Telegram.
I'm certainly not discussing investments.
And if Amy happens to have an uncle who is a cryptocurrency genius who can turn $500 into $47,000 by Thursday...
I'm probably going to pass.
For now, I'm simply curious about what happens next.
Maybe nothing happens.
Maybe Amy is a perfectly real person who happened to send me a random friend request.
Maybe I'll eventually discover why she wanted to connect with me.
Or maybe the next chapter writes itself.
Either way, I clicked Confirm.
The experiment has officially begun.
And Amy, if you're real and eventually stumble across these posts:
Hi.
Please don't take it personally.
My inbox has trained me to be suspicious of everybody.
Especially people with more jobs than Facebook friends.
A Mystery Friend Request on The Facebook: Friend Her or Hit Delete?
A few days ago, I received a friend request on The Facebook.
Yes, I’m calling it The Facebook.
The request came from Amy Ford.
My immediate reaction was pretty simple:
Who is Amy Ford?
I have absolutely no clue.
Then the second thought kicked in:
Who would randomly want to be friends with me?
And that's when a little insecurity started creeping in. I'm old. My kidneys are failing. I have one fully intact leg. My eyes aren't exactly operating at 4K resolution. I'm a little chubby.
Yet here comes this attractive stranger wanting to be my friend on The Facebook.
Okay.
What could go wrong?
One Mutual Friend
Before immediately hitting delete, I looked at the profile.
We have one mutual friend.
One.
That's enough to make me curious, but certainly not enough to make me think, Oh, of course! Amy!
Her profile says she's in New York and references Korea, along with the University of Leeds. Her bio says:
“Hi everyone! I’m a somewhat well-known beauty from Korea, LOL.”
That's an interesting introduction.
And yes, the name Amy Ford initially caught my attention, along with the Korean references. Of course, someone from Korea can have an English or Western name, so the name by itself proves absolutely nothing.
But combined with everything else?
My curiosity started winning.
So I Started Digging
I looked through her public posts.
There are posts about New York.
Central Park.
Ballet.
A Cybertruck driving through Manhattan.
Porto Rico Importing Co. in Greenwich Village.
New York Fashion Week.
Plenty of photographs, locations, and little slices of New York life.
At first glance, it looks like someone documenting life in the city.
But then I started looking at the profile as a whole.
The account shows 16 followers and 33 following.
We share only that one mutual connection.
There are highly polished profile and cover images featuring the same woman, including a collage labeled “NEW YORK,” “BEAUTIFUL LIFE,” “SOYEON,” and “SEOUL, KOREA.”
Then there's the University of Leeds reference.
Maybe every bit of it is legitimate.
Maybe Amy is exactly who the profile says she is.
Or maybe this will become another chapter in my growing collection of strange things people send me online.
I don't know.
And that's precisely why I haven't hit Confirm.
I've Seen This Movie Before
After documenting recruiter scams, suspicious social media accounts, fake car sellers, PayPal scams, Geek Squad scams, mystery invoices, and the other nonsense that seems to find its way to me, I've learned something:
Curiosity is powerful.
It's also exactly what questionable accounts can rely on.
The temptation is obvious.
Accept the request.
Don't volunteer any personal information.
Don't click anything.
Don't send money.
And see what happens.
Will “Amy” send a perfectly normal message?
Will she never contact me at all?
Will we suddenly move from Hello to cryptocurrency investing in 14 minutes?
Will an uncle show up with an incredible investment opportunity?
Will WhatsApp or Telegram show up?
Maybe none of that happens.
That's what makes this interesting.
So I'm Putting It to You
I'm genuinely undecided.
There isn't enough here for me to declare that the person behind this account is a scammer. A profile that looks unusual to me isn't proof of anything, and neither is someone's name, appearance, nationality, school, number of friends, or posting style.
But there are enough things that don't immediately add up for me that I'm hesitant to click Confirm.
So, readers, I'm handing you the mouse.
What should I do?
👍 Accept the friend request and see what happens?
🗑️ Delete it and move along?
And more importantly: What do you look for when a stranger sends you a friend request on The Facebook?
I have a feeling the comments on this one could be more entertaining than the friend request.