{"id":8477,"date":"2023-10-06T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.eset.ee\/et\/2023\/10\/06\/fake-friends-and-followers-on-social-media-and-how-to-spot-them\/"},"modified":"2023-10-06T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T09:00:00","slug":"fake-friends-and-followers-on-social-media-and-how-to-spot-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.eset.ee\/et\/en\/2023\/10\/06\/fake-friends-and-followers-on-social-media-and-how-to-spot-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake friends and followers on social media \u2013 and how to spot them"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some 4.5 billion people worldwide, or almost <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/433871\/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide\/\">55 percent<\/a> of the global population, have at least one account with one of the big players. And global internet users spend around two-and-a-half hours each day reading news, sharing stories and swapping pictures on their social media platforms of choice. In other words, social media has had an immeasurable effect on our lives, including on how we engage and interact with other people.<\/p>\n<p>Yet not everything is always as it seems on social media. As per the internet in general, these platforms have become a hotbed for scammers and fake news peddlers. The sheer volume of global users, the dynamic nature of user-generated content and the agility of malicious actors make policing these platforms extremely challenging for the providers.<\/p>\n<p>That means users must take matters into their own hands.<\/p>\n<h2>Social media is a haven for scammers<\/h2>\n<p>Among the biggest threats to watch out for are friends and followers who aren\u2019t who they claim to be. Scammers use these profiles, often registered and managed by automated bots, to spam users with too-good-to-be-true offers, clickbait stories, romance scams and more. It could range from a \u201cwho viewed your profile\u201d link to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welivesecurity.com\/2022\/01\/12\/cryptocurrency-scams-what-know-how-protect-yourself\/\">bogus cryptocurrency investment opportunity<\/a> or a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welivesecurity.com\/2021\/12\/07\/5-common-gift-card-scams-how-spot-them\/\">free gift card offer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line is that they want your money and\/or your data. They may be hoping you click on a malicious link, triggering a covert malware download, or that you voluntarily hand over personal information. They may even be reeling you in for a bigger scam like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welivesecurity.com\/2022\/02\/11\/when-love-hurts-romance-scams\/\">romance fraud<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eset.com\/sg\/about\/newsroom\/press-releases1\/products\/cryptocurrency-twitter-scam\/\">crypto scams.<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>10 tips for spotting the fakers<\/h2>\n<p>Social media platforms are getting better at removing inauthentic profiles and accounts. But they\u2019re nowhere near 100% successful. We all need to be more credulous about what we see on these sites. Here are some of the top ways to spot the scammers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An unusual bio: Fake accounts may have bios that are copied and updated from elsewhere, leading to an incongruous mix of sentences. Also look out for typos, excessive emojis and\/or stilted language indicative of a bot.<\/li>\n<li>Catfishers: Scammers might use fake social media profiles just as they do on dating sites in a bid to con their way into a romantic online relationship with the victim before asking for money to be wired to them. A reverse image search should be the first port of call. Also check for some of the other tell-tale signs of a scam artist listed in this article \u2013 or watch the video.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A mismatch between \u201cfollowers\u201d and \u201cfollowing\u201d: This is particularly prevalent on Instagram. Spam accounts will automatically follow hundreds or thousands of users, but few will follow them back.<\/li>\n<li>Friend\u2019s profile pic: Sometimes scammers will try to clone a friend\u2019s account. They may then send an urgent message pretending that friend is in trouble and asking for money. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welivesecurity.com\/2020\/08\/17\/attack-instagram-clones\/\">It\u2019s easier to do than it sounds<\/a> and still tricks a lot of unwitting social media users. It always pays to double-check with any friend if they really have sent you a message like this. Drop them a line via another channel. Alternatively, scrutinize the account sending the message. Does it display any of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welivesecurity.com\/2023\/02\/15\/10-signs-scammers-sights\/\">tell-tale signs of a scam<\/a> listed here?<\/li>\n<li>Direct message (DM) spam: A scam account will often try to message you directly with fake offers and encourage you to DM to someone else or visit a website to find out more. These accounts will also be fake, used to peddle anything from crypto investment fraud to retail scams.<\/li>\n<li>No official checkmark: <a href=\"https:\/\/help.instagram.com\/854227311295302\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/help\/196050490547892\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/help.twitter.com\/en\/rules-and-policies\/profile-labels\">X (Twitter)<\/a>, for example, have badges or checkmarks to identify the official accounts of businesses, celebrities and others. If you see an account purporting to be an organization or individual of some import, but which doesn\u2019t feature any of these, it\u2019s likely to be an imposter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"nicolas cage\" height=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/web-assets.esetstatic.com\/wls\/2023\/2023-10\/nicolas-cage.jpeg\" title=\"Just one (extreme) example for many (source: Reddit)\" width=\"\"><figcaption><em>Just one (extreme) example for many (source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Scams\/comments\/16ry8t8\/awww_nic_cage_requested_to_follow_me_out_of\/\">Reddit<\/a>)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Posting activity: Fake accounts will often post a barrage of content in one go \u2013 perhaps with similar or identical captions \u2013 and then fall silent. Or they may even fail to post at all. So check the quantity, quality and cadence of any posts.<\/li>\n<li>Free gift offers: Beware of any accounts that offer you giveaways and\/or cash \u2013 perhaps in return for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welivesecurity.com\/2023\/02\/02\/real-fake-spot-survey-scam\/\">filling out a survey<\/a>. They may impersonate a big-name brand to do so. They just want your personal information.<\/li>\n<li>Heavily discounted items: Fake accounts might also promote luxury items that have been heavily marked down. Remember, if it\u2019s too good to be true, it usually is.<\/li>\n<li>Random comments: If an account is leaving comments on your posts unrelated to that post, it is quite probably a fake.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How to report fake accounts<\/h2>\n<p>The good news is that many social media gatekeepers like <a href=\"https:\/\/about.instagram.com\/blog\/announcements\/introducing-new-authenticity-measures-on-instagram\/\">Instagram<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.linkedin.com\/2022\/october\/25\/new-linkedin-profile-features-help-verify-identity--detect-and-r\">LinkedIn<\/a>, are continually looking at ways to improve account verification and boot inauthentic users and bots off their platforms. However, one of the best tools they have to spot fake accounts is their eagle-eyed users. If you come across a fake profile, here\u2019s how to report it on four of the main social media sites:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Facebook<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If someone is pretending to be you, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/help\/contact\/295309487309948?_rdc=1&amp;_rdr\">visit this page<\/a>. If you spot a fake account, click the button with three dots at the bottom of the profile photo and then \u201cFind, support or report\u201d or \u201cReport Page.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>X (formerly Twitter)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Report <a href=\"https:\/\/help.twitter.com\/en\/forms\/authenticity\/impersonation\">here<\/a>. Or click on the three dots beside the account name and then follow the instructions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Instagram<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Click the three dots beside the account name then \u201cReport.\u201d Or <a href=\"https:\/\/help.instagram.com\/contact\/636276399721841\">click here<\/a> to report an account impersonating you, your business or child.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>LinkedIn<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Click \u201cMore\u201d under account name and then \u201cReport\/Block\u201d or \u201cReport Abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The best antidote we have against scam followers is to make our profile private, and then thoroughly vet anyone wanting to follow. If life sometimes moves too fast to make this 100% viable, bear the above in mind to stay safer online.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wls-source\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.welivesecurity.com\/en\/social-media\/fake-friends-followers-social-media-how-spot-them\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read the full analysis on WeLiveSecurity \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the biggest threats to watch out for on social media is fraud perpetrated by people who aren\u2019t who they claim to be. Here\u2019s how to recognize them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-family"],"acf":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.eset.ee\/et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.eset.ee\/et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.eset.ee\/et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.eset.ee\/et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.eset.ee\/et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.eset.ee\/et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.eset.ee\/et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.eset.ee\/et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.eset.ee\/et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.eset.ee\/et\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}