How to tell if a Social Media Account is Fake

Technology is popular today, and guess what, so are scams related to technology. Scam artists have moved from approaching people on the streets to cheating people out of their money with the latest tech updates. How do they do it? They set up phony social media accounts, pretend to be people that don’t exist and convince unsuspecting people to give out their sensitive information or money. To protect yourself from fraud and identity theft on the internet today, here are four things you should always look out for.

Check out the Photo (and the latest tech updates in editing)

Scam artists on the internet usually operate several accounts at the same time. Even with the latest tech updates, they have access to a limited number of photos, which means that they’ll use one photo multiple times. When you see a photo that pops up under several names, be on the lookout for a fake account. Similarly, treat a person who contacts you or adds you to his circle without a profile picture as suspicious. Also, keep up with photo editing trends.

Look up the Comments

Social media is an interactive platform. If you want to know if an account is fake, look at the comments under that profile. Too many or too few posts? Probably a fake account. No one can post more than 100,000 tweets in a week. Only promotional content on the account? Then the account is fake, set up to give phony reviews and to advertise. Finally, inconsistent posts, comments or messages are a red flag when it comes to social media profiles.

Pay Attention to their Social Media Account

Fake profiles usually have a few things in common. For instance, they typically have few local and many international friends, especially on forums like Facebook. On twitter, the accounts may be following too many people (usually 2,001 people, which is the threshold for those who have few followers). They also have incoherent comments, no or implausible bios and no verification from the sites. If you want to spot them, simply look out for these characteristics.

Don’t forget to follow these three steps to protect yourself from fake accounts today!