Advice for dealing with suspicious messages in Facebook Messenger

Recipients of suspicious-looking messages on Facebook Messenger should not enter any personal details or passwords, and should never download unknown programs. (File photo, 12/04/2013. Please credit: Jens Buettner / dpa.) Photo: Jens Buettner/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa

They can seem innocuous enough: a short sentence, an emoji, a video link. But if you get a message from one of your contacts on Facebook Messenger that doesn’t look like the kind of thing they would normally send, you should never open it.

That’s the advice from German police, who have recently issued guidance on how to deal with such messages. Behind these seemingly innocent messages sent from your contacts could be an attempt to hijack your Facebook account.