Warning: Do Not Accept Friend Request from John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Social media users have been warned not to accept a friend request from John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt because “his name will become your name.”
The Truth:
A warnings not accept a Facebook friend request from John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt because his name will become your name is a joke that plays on a rash of similar (and false) friend request warnings.
Since December 2016, warnings have circulated on social media that users should not accept friend requests from people by the name of Christopher and Jessica Davies, Anwar Jitou and Jayden K. Smith. The names change, but the threat remains the same: the person is a hacker who will be able to hack all of your contacts’ profiles if you accept the friend request. The claim is baseless and there are no credible reports of this every happening.
The latest version, not to accept friend requests from John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt because his name will become your name is a joke that plays off the popular children’s song by the same name.
The lyrics to the song John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt go: John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. His name is my name too. Whenever we go out
The people always shout, ‘There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.’ And therein lies the joke.
So, just as in past friend request warnings, warnings not to accept friend request from John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt aren’t based on credible threats.