Let's be clear. This is the type of thing that could happen and could be a legit message. But when it's forwarded to thousands of people at the same time, just because someone says to forward it, it becomes a hoax.
If you forwarded it to anyone other than a friend that you got a bogus friend request from, you were part of the problem. (And I know you were just trying to be nice.)
If you get a bogus friend request, let that friend know.
If you think you may have been hacked or cloned, here's how Snopes says you should handle it:
I've had that happen. A couple of friends told me directly that they had received a duplicate friend request. I searched Facebook and found the cloned account, reported the profile and Facebook took care of it immediately.
There's no need to panic... or cause panic.
Part of what fueled this was a news story Friday about Facebook being hacked.
The company says it affected roughly 4 percent of Facebook users. Facebook automatically logged those users out and told them to log back in, and that supposedly fixed the problem.
Admittedly, this is worrisome. But to pass along something that tells all your friends they've been hacked and that you're receiving friend requests when you're NOT is not being anyone's friend. It's spam.