The police’s cybercrime unit has warned people to be on their guard against an online scam which tricks people into giving fraudsters control of their social media accounts.

The hacking scam – which Times of Malta has reported on extensively – works by relying on people trusting messages they receive from their friends.

Victims receive a message from their friend, generally over Facebook Messenger, telling them that they have forgotten their password and need help to regain access to their account, in the form of a special code.

In reality, the ‘friend’ sending the message has had their account compromised by hackers.

When targets receive an access code and pass it on to what they believe is their friend, hackers can then take over their account – and use that account access to trick even more people.

Faced with a growing number of reports about the hack, the police’s cybercrime unit urged people to be alert to the scam.

“The only thing you need to do is ignore such messages,” the police said.