It is not uncommon to hear about fake facebook profiles spread over the internet. Such profiles could be created for different purposes e.g. dating, hiding true identity or for perpetrating any scam. I read in an article that approximately 85 million facebook fake profiles have been created over the internet. While people would create them for different purpose but it is important for you that you don’t fall victim of it.
You can come across situation wherein you are sent a friends request from a great looking girl or guy. Just be cautious. It could be a trap to lure you into a scam. Here are some of the steps you can employ to identify a fake facebook profile.
- Single picture profile: – If you come across just one picture in a facebook profile or very limited 2-3 pictures with no activity, chances are very high that it is a fake profile.
- No status updates or comments: - If you see the blank status update or no comments for a long time by this profile, but you got a facebook friend request. This seems illogical, isn’t it? Chances are again very high that this profile is fake.
- No updates by others in this profile: - if you notice there is no comments by others on this profile or posts or birthday greetings or any other occasions. Then the chance is that it is a fake profile.
- Google based pictures: – Generally the pictures for the fake profile are taken from photograph from search engines. Just download the pictures of this profile and do an images search for the same on Google or Bing. If you find it on search engines, it is a strong indication that the profile is a fake one.
- Opposite gender friends: – if you see a profile which has only friends from opposite sex, chances are that this profile is made to lure people from different gender or for dating purpose etc. Chances are again very high it to be a fake profile.
- Suspicious details on profile: – If you see the profile containing some obviously looking suspicious details. e.g. on a female profile, if you have the entire data of her address and phone number with bank details. It is highly unlikely for some female would give her contact details in public. Again you should be very cautious.
- Lewd Photographs: - If you come across some lewd photographs, gestures or anything which a person is not likely to post in public, it could be a fake profile or used by someone else to malign the image of a person.
- No proper reply to questions: – You can ask questions to the person on how they got to know about you. If you see no answer or a wrong answer, chances are that this profile is fake.
- No interconnection: If you do not see any single point of interconnection with the other person like mutual friends, same company or former company or same school or tuition classes etc., but still you have been advanced with friendship request, then this profile could be fake. You must check all the above points in addition to this point.
- Friends with suspicious looking names: – If you find the other person have friendship with awkward named people who do not show an origin based similarity with your cultural or country background, then this profile could be fake.
- Friends from different unknown countries: – If you find friend request from very different countries which does not have English as their main language, then it is very highly likely that it is a fake profile.
- Curious looking date of birth: – If you find date of birth like 1/1/1 or 1/2/3 or 31/12/2012, then chances are very high that it is a fake profile.
- Gender and Photograph mismatch: – if you see the photograph of a female but the gender mentioned is of a male in the profile. Chances are highly likely that it is a fake profile.
More importantly, your gut feel is very important. If you feel something is not right while accepting the friendship request, don’t do it.