Facebook recently passed the 2 billion monthly active users milestone. Ignoring multiple accounts, fakes, bots, etc. there's still an awful lot of people who regularly access the social network, and not all of them are particularly tech-savvy - which could explain the latest incarnation of a viral message that's spreading on the platform.

The hoax, which is circulating via Messenger, warns users of a cyber criminal called Jayden K Smith - not to be confused with Will Smith's son, Jaden - whose hacking skills are seemingly so immense that he can somehow take control of your Facebook account, and those of all your friends, if you accept his friendship request.

"He is a hacker and has the system connected to your Facebook account. If one of your contacts accepts it, you will also be hacked, so make sure that all your friends know it. Thanks. Forwarded as received," reads the message, which has been posted by users all over the world.

The claims are, of course, a load of bull. But that hasn't stopped many people falling for it and passing the message on. It's actually a variation on a viral hoax that's been around for years. In earlier versions, names such as Anwar Jitou, Tanner Dwyer and Bobby Roberts have been used in place of Jayden.

Such hoaxes are nothing new for the site. In October last year, the fake copyright post that had been circulating on Facebook since 2012 saw a new surge in popularity. It stated that the company was about to change its privacy policy to make everything you've ever posted, even deleted material, public. The only way to prevent this was to copy and share the message, thereby overriding Facebook's terms and conditions of service. It even cited a law that was, in reality, a legal framework set up by the International Criminal Court that deals with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.