What is a fake account – Are you chatting with scammers?
Have you ever come across a fake profile on social media paltforms like Facebook or Instagram? Countless such profiles exist today and are primarily created to scam innocent people on the Internet.
Before understanding how you can identify fake accounts, you should know what they are. Read on to learn more about these fake profiles.
What are fake accounts?
Fake accounts are social media profiles where the person operating it knowingly lies about their
- name
- occupation
- age
- sex
- religion
- financial stability
- phone number
- address
- or other information.
Most fake profiles also include pictures belonging to other people and not the real operator of that particular account. The profile photo is just stolen from other existing accounts. Always remember, account creation is fast and easy. And a profile picture that looks too good to be true rarely is.
Anonymity on the Internet becomes a huge problem, if your online romance needs money. The advice however is simple never pay any money to anyone you have met on the Internet.
Generally, people create accounts and profiles to impersonate an individual that they are not. For instance, men scammers may impersonate a woman through such fake accounts to entrap other men.
How does a fake account pose a threat to you?
When befriending a stranger online, you have no way of verifying whether his/her claims are true or not. Scammers use this opportunity to their gain with the help of a fake account.
In a social network, he is pretending to be someone else to cheat on other users.
Listed below are some of the common scams that fake account operators run.
- Fake account operators try to initiate a romantic relationship with you. The moment you get emotionally invested, they take advantage of your weaknesses to scam money or personal information out of you.
- Using a fake account, a man can pose as a woman and befriend another man. They will promise marriage and show you dreams of a happy life together just to get your credit card information.
- Through these accounts, fraudsters can dupe people into thinking that they work in a bank. They will devise emergencies where the bank desperately needs your bank account number, credit/debit card number and PIN.
- In some cases, these con artists pose as doctors or military personnel desperately seeking love online. Innocent women often fall for these imposters and may end up losing their life savings.
As you can see, a fake account can have a huge impact on your online safety. Besides losing your hard-earned money, such accounts can steal your identity and use the same to perform illegal activities.
Consider carefully whether you accept a friend request if you do not know the one. There is no verified account on most social media sites on the Internet. Especially if it is a new account that was created recently with little to see and pictures that are very appealing, you need to be careful. And by the way, there is even automated fake account creation, with bots taking over this task in large numbers.
How to detect fake profiles online
Detecting a fake account is the only way to safeguard yourself from their schemes. Mentioned below are some of the tips to identify a fake account.
Are those profile pictures real?
Verify whether the pictures in the account belong to the suspicious account operator or someone else. Perform a quick reverse image search to understand whether the photos are downloaded from the Internet.
Scammers ask many questions
Information is valuable. Everything from your birthday to parents’ marriage anniversary is important data for fake profile operators. Follow the instructions for impersonation of the respective website to file a report.
Using this data, they may be able to derive your passwords. Therefore, con artists often come off as inquisitive.
When an online friend asks you about your day, it may not always mean that they are caring. Be wary about the details you share and avoid disclosing personal information.
Fake accounts are only the beginning of an elaborate scam. Even fake passports are used, which are sometimes stolen from other victims. This is why we blur personal information.
Refuses to show his/her face live
Does your online friend or lover always make excuses to avoid meeting you face to face? This is one of the biggest indicators of a fake profile operator.
Ask them to talk to you on video chat and see how they respond to that request. Repeated excuses to avoid a meeting almost always indicates a swindler.
Many fake accounts use pictures of attractive people to attract unsuspecting individuals. Therefore, a face-to-face meeting is impossible without breaking this illusion.
Looks to pursue romantic relationships
Swindlers are always trying to form an emotional connection with their target at first. Doing so ensures that you are unable to refuse their request for money when they ask in the future.
If your online friend is too eager to start a romantic relationship with you, step back and think again. Take your time to get to know the person first before engaging in a serious relationship.
Fake account operators will never invest so much time in a false relationship. This is one of the easiest ways to differentiate between a cheater and a real person looking for a committed relationship.
If you find such a fake profile on Facebook or Instagram, for example, report it immediately to the page operators. The administrators then look at the Facebook account, for example, and check it intensively. Doing so stops other people from falling prey to the same fraud.
Are you having doubts? We check the person
Have you met a person on the Internet and are now wondering whether the person’s account is real?
Always remember: a Facebook account or any other account can be created quickly and if you’re not careful, you’ll fall into a trap. Just because a user posts something under this account does not mean that the user is real.
We operate a discreet detective service, specialising in background checks. If you suspect a fake, we can check it out for you and determine whether your suspicions are correct.
This service costs money, of course, but is cheap and affordable for almost everyone.
Write us what you know about the user and don’t forget to enter your e-mail address so that we can contact you. We need to know the account name and, for example, a link to the Facebook account.
You will receive a clear report after our investigation. This gives you final security whether it is a real account and a real person behind it. This will protect you from financial fraud and potentially save you from a broken heart.
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