Social Active Last seen May 19, 2026

The “is this you in this video?” message on social.

A friend (or a stranger) sends you a direct message with a link and 'is this you?' or 'OMG I can't believe you did this lol.'

How it shows up

  • Is this you in this video? Direct message with a link.
  • I saw your name in this article Same pretext, news-article framing.
  • You won't believe what they said about you Outrage framing.
  • Marketplace inquiry with link Is this item still for sale? with an off-platform link.

The message comes from someone you know. The link looks short and harmless. When you click it, you’re sent to a page that looks like Facebook or Instagram and asks you to log in again for security. If you do, the scammer now has your account, and the next message goes to all of your friends from you. The chain keeps going.

This works because the message came from a real friend whose account just got taken over five minutes ago. The lure plays on a very specific kind of panic: wait, is there a video of me? That moment of dread is the only moment they need.

Once they have your account, they can scrape your friends list, message your contacts, post in your name, and sometimes lock you out by changing the recovery email.

Principles to remember

  1. Call back through a number you found yourself

    If someone contacts you claiming to be your bank, the IRS, or a tech company, hang up and reach them through a number you look up independently.

  2. Use a unique password for every account, and let a password manager remember them

    Reusing one password across accounts means one breach opens all of them. A password manager handles the remembering so you can stop.

  3. Turn on two-factor authentication, and use an app instead of text messages

    Two-factor authentication blocks most account takeovers. An authenticator app is stronger than codes sent by text.