How to spot fake social media profiles

Last updated on July 5th, 2024 at 10:58 am

Header image source Pixabay

I thought I’d share a few tips on how to spot fake profiles or accounts on social media. There are so many fake profiles or scammer accounts out there that some do look legitimately real.

But there are a few things you can check to see if the account or profile is real.

How to spot fake Facebook Profiles

Random comments or friend requests

Over the years Facebook has had a number of accounts that may have been hacked or even have accounts that are fake.

I’ve noticed many may contact you via a friend request. This should be a red flag right off.

Sometimes the person may comment on a very random comment. I had this recently. I thought it was odd because it was a post from 2017.

This comment gave me a romance scam vibe. The commenter using the name David Thompson comes across as polite and well-mannered.

Hello Vanessa, Sorry to appraoch you inappropiately, I was wondering how you appeared on my suggestion list for a coupole of days now?.. So I ask if we know each other from somewhere? I would appreaciate us being good friends and getting to know each other better, send me a friend request. Thank you

David Thompson comment on Facebook

viewing Facebook profiles

We can use this possible fake profile of the person claiming to be David Thompson as an example. This person claims to be in the military. This is implied by their profile picture and the images of their header on their Facebook page.

Things to note about profiles

Some of the things that always stand out to me when viewing profiles to see if they are fake are the following:

intro info

I know not everyone likes to have their personal information listed under the Intro Info on Facebook but I do notice many of these fake profiles may have a school listed. Or their relationship status.

Once again we can go back to the previous profile. The person claims they went to a University based in Austria. Yet their hometown is listed in Pennsylvania. Granted this may not always make sense but it’s things like this that should set off red flags.

Post feed

I’ve noticed that many fake profiles may have a number of photos of random content or selfies. Granted you can set post feeds to private but still it’s sort of odd for a middle-aged man or anyone to have a group of selfies on their feed and that’s it.

If the selfies have been posted in a group within a set number of hours you can bet this profile is fake.

Friends list

I also tend to view the friend list. Many fake profiles may follow a number of people. If it’s a profile that has a man’s photo they may friend a group of women. The same can be said for profiles that have woman’s photos.

Granted once again you may be able to hide a friends list.

Things to notice about business profiles

There are many fake business profiles as well. I’ve shared about these in the past but here are a few things to watch for.

check for grammar or spelling errors.
if the profile asks you to sign up for anything unrelated to the business or post.
If the profile wants to redirect you to an unrelated business.
The profile suggests you’ve won a prize or giveaway you never entered.

A note about hacked accounts

I’ve seen this numerous times when I have a friend request from a person who may be from the Midwest. But when you view their profile they kept the photos of the original posters but suddenly have many foreign friends.

For example, you may have Sally Jones or Tom Smith follow you and they are a typical suburban Midwesterner. Yet when you view their profile they suddenly live in Europe or have dozens of friends from outside of the US.

How to spot fake Instagram profiles

This is very similar to Facebook. You may have random comments from strangers or profiles claiming to be well-known businesses.

Things to note about IG profiles

photos

Many fake profiles may have a number of selfies that have been uploaded within a set number of hours. For instance, they may bulk upload a handful of selfies with no captions all within an hour of opening the profile.

bio/links

Many fake profiles may not have any real bio info or even links. Some may link you to some website but many don’t include any real bio.

Or the bios may be scripture quotes or some other random text that doesn’t really have anything to do with them.

Random comments

I’ve had my fair share of random comments from fake profiles. But earlier this week I had one from a profile trying to portray itself as part of Paypal.

I knew it was fake because they stated I had won a Paypal giveaway yet the comment was posted to a pinned photo. The profile also had some non-original name that screams scam.

It was paypal.sweepstakes.support

I can see how folks may think this is real because it includes the PayPal logo. But you can find out how old a profile is as well as if it’s had other names.

This feature is a great way to spot a fake account in some ways.

you can report these profiles

You can report profiles that you think are fake via Facebook and Instagram.

how to report a profile via Facebook

If you are using a desktop :

1. Visit the suspected fake profile
2. click the three (…) dots on the right-hand side that are in line with the posts menu
3. click the dots and a drop-down menu opens up
4. click find support or report menu item
5. follow the prompts to report

once you report the page you can also block them as well. This option may be shown during the reporting process.

I would assume the same steps would be taken when using the Facebook App.

How to report a profile via Instagram

1. visit the suspected fake profile
2. click on the three vertical dots on the top right-hand corner
3. click report in the drop-down menu
4. Follow the prompts to report.

You can also block the profile the option may be suggested during your reporting.

Try to stay safe when using social media. No one wants to fall prey to a fake profile.