The advice from digital security company ESET
About four and a half billion people worldwide have at least one account with one of the majors social media. As social media has a huge impact on our lives, digital security company ESET presents tips for identifying fraudsters using fake profiles.
The ten ways to recognize fake profiles are:
1. An unusual resume: Fake accounts may have resumes they’ve copied from elsewhere, leading to a mismatched mix of offers. Also, watch for typos, excessive emojis, and/or language indicative of a bot.
2. Catfishers: Scammers use fake profiles on social media, just like they do on dating sites, in order to strike up an online romance with the victim, before asking for money to be transferred to them. A reverse image search should be the first choice. Also check for some of the other signs of a scammer mentioned in this article.
3. Mismatch between “followers” and “following”: This is especially prevalent on Instagram. Spam accounts will automatically follow hundreds or thousands of users, but few will follow them back.
4. Friend’s Profile Picture: Sometimes scammers try to clone your friend’s account. They may then send an urgent message pretending your friend is in trouble and ask for money. It happens very easily and fools many unsuspecting social media users. Always contact your friend to find out if he actually sent you such a message. Message them through another medium. Alternatively, take a closer look at the account sending the message. Showing any of the signs of fraud listed here?
5. Direct message (DM) spam: Often a scammer will try to direct message you with fake offers and encourage you to DM someone else or visit a website to learn more. These accounts are fake and are used to market anything from crypto investment scams to retail scams.
6. No official badge: Instagram, Facebook and X (Twitter) have badges or checkmarks to identify the official accounts of businesses, celebrities and others. If you see an account that purports to be an organization or a famous person, but is neither, it’s likely a scam.
7. Activity: Often fake accounts post a lot of content at once – perhaps with similar or identical captions – and then go silent. Or they might even not post at all. So check the quantity, quality and pace of posts.
8. Gift offers: Beware of accounts that offer gifts and/or cash – perhaps in exchange for completing a survey. They may impersonate a big name brand to do this. They just want your personal information.
9. Deeply discounted items: Fake accounts may also promote luxury items that are discounted. Remember, if it’s too good to be true, it usually isn’t.
10. Irrelevant Comments: If an account leaves comments on your posts that are not related to that particular post, it is very likely that it is a fake account.
ESET advises that the best antidote to scammers is to make our profile private and then thoroughly vet anyone who wants to follow us.
He also points out that if a user spots a fake profile, it’s important to report the profile on social media.
