How to tell fake instagram accounts
How Can You Tell if an Instagram Account Is Fake?
A favorite among influencers and brands, Instagram brought together nearly 1.3 billion monthly active users in 2021. With a predominantly young target audience, the social network created by Mike Krieger and Kevin Systromn—and later acquired by Facebook—now tends to be rife with online scams. Find out how to spot these scams and protect yourself with our guide to fake Instagram accounts and other social media scams.
What kinds of scams are out there on Instagram?81% of account holders say they use Instagram to find new products and services. For cybercriminals, Instagram is simply another online space where they can propagate scams. The most common scams found on the platform tend to be:
- Phishing. This often comes in the form of a private message from an account you’ve never interacted with before, prompting you to click on a link. The aim here is to obtain your private data (such as your login details) via a virus attached to the link—and then hack your account.
- False offers for brand collaborations. So-called “brands” will sometimes send influencers fake collaboration offers with the goal of getting ahold of their bank details. Sometimes this type of scam will also look like an offer to take part in a survey or competition, to trick users into clicking on an external link.
- Fake competitions, fake loan offers at competitive rates and other “miracle” investments, too-good-to-be-true job offers, and attempted credit card fraud. These scams follow the same principle as fake collaborations—tricking victims into believing that they’ve won some kind of prize or perk. Once again, the scammers are actually trying to get hold of people’s money or personal data.
- Emotional scams. This type of online scam is extremely common, and exists well beyond Instagram. The tactic involves getting in touch with someone, and building a sense of trust and closeness. The cybercriminal then requests money to help with an emergency—like getting a visa, paying for their trip to join a loved one, or helping out their family.
In most of these cases, users are contacted through a fake Instagram account. This is why it’s so important to know how to spot a fake account—so you can protect yourself against them.
How can you tell if an Instagram account is fake?Are you having doubts as to whether that Instagram profile is real or not? Here are a few clues to help you recognize a fake Instagram account:
- The account follows substantially more accounts than it has followers—or it has no followers and isn’t following anyone
- Their profile description seems too vague
- The account has no profile picture
- The account has only published a few posts, or none at all
- Posts are mainly about promotions or “competitions”
- The account claims to be a celebrity, but there’s no blue tick next to their profile
- The account name looks like other existing accounts, but a few characters or letters have been changed
- The account name seems odd
Many cybercriminals use fake Instagram account generators.
As their goal is to create hundreds of accounts in a short amount of time, they don’t have time to fine tune or curate them. Given this, it’s usually easy to spot fake accounts if you look closely.
Identity theft on Instagram
Thanks to phishing, it’s all too easy for scammers to collect enough information about you—including your name, surname, photos, date of birth, password, or e-mail address—in order to steal your identity and create an account that passes as yours. This is called identity theft.
The main purpose of identity theft on Instagram is to scam the followers of the person whose identity the cybercriminal has stolen. This is why it’s so important to report these fake accounts, so that the platform can remove them quickly.
If you receive a private message from someone posing as a person or a brand, asking you to click on a link—whatever you do, don’t click. Instead, check the profile for any signs of a scam, and try contacting your friend, or the brand, by another means to make sure it’s really their account.
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Your security is our priority. Arm yourself with our tips to protect yourself online.
I’m ready to take action
How to report and delete a fake Instagram accountHere are the steps you can take to report a fake Instagram account:
- Click on the profile
- Click the three dots on the right
- Select Report, and then follow the instructions
You can also email Instagram at [email protected]. Don’t worry, reports are always anonymous, so your identity won’t be revealed to the owner of the fake Instagram account.
Be aware, however, that to get an Instagram account deleted or content deemed inappropriate, the account must be in violation of community rules. These include:
- Sharing unwanted content
- Posting images of a sexual nature
- Spreading hateful/racist/violent ideas or symbols
- Practicing bullying or harassment
- Selling illegal goods
- Violating intellectual property rights
- Sharing content relating to suicide or self-harm
Instagram’s teams will then check to see if the reported account is in violation of its terms of service.
They can take different actions, ranging from a “shadowban” (restricting the account’s visibility), to deleting a post, or the account itself.
Only the victim of identity theft can report it to Instagram. To do this, you’ll need to fill out this form. You’ll be asked to fill in your name, email address, the name of the fake account, and provide a photo of your ID along with a description of the situation. You’ll then receive a confirmation email. After that, the Instagram team will then verify the identity—which can take several days or weeks—before deleting the account.
In addition, just like on Facebook, you can also file an identity theft complaint on Instagram. Identity theft is an offense (article 226-4-1 of the Criminal Code) and is punishable by one year’s imprisonment and a fine of €15,000. The law specifies: “This offense is punishable by the same penalties when it is committed on a public online communication network.
” The punishment for identity theft on Instagram is thus the same as for “conventional” identity theft.
With online scams on the rise again, N26 is keeping an eye on social networks, especially Instagram. As is the case with many brands, malicious people can impersonate us and start following you if your Instagram account is public—and if your account is private, they can send you a follow request or a direct message.
First, be aware that N26 will never send you a private message on Instagram out of the blue, unless you have contacted us for support. As explained above, caution is key in all your interactions on social networks. We recommend staying vigilant and never clicking links sent by suspicious accounts.
N26 has an official Instagram account in France: @N26FR, blue-tick verified. The account has numerous followers, and all the content posted is in line with our brand design and identity.
We’ve been posting regularly since June 2019, when we created our Instagram account.
Note that the only other accounts we have are our English and Italian accounts, @N26 and @N26IT.
So if a fake Instagram account masquerades as us, see if:
- It has just been created
- It has very few followers
- It publishes posts that receive only a few likes or comments
- It posts content that doesn’t meet our design standards
- The posts are full of errors and/or are infrequent
- It’s advertising too-good-to-be-true offers for loans or financial investments
If you’ve seen such an account, be wary. And if in doubt, report the account to Instagram.
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How To Tell If An Instagram Account Is Fake Based On These 7 Glaring Red Flags
Tech
They aren't too difficult to find.
by Syeda Khaula Saad and Siena Gagliano
Updated:
Originally Published:
zoranm/E+/Getty Images
Have you ever stumbled upon an Instagram account and asked yourself how it was possible to get that many followers? No need to rack your brain, because the answer just might have to do with fake accounts. And while a few bot accounts may not seem like a big deal to the average user, they're more prevalent than you might realize. So, how can you tell if an Instagram account is fake? You'd be surprised at what you can use to spot the phonies.
There are plenty of different reasons why someone might make a fake Instagram account. Some people make accounts to impersonate or catfish others. On the flip side, some fake accounts are made in large quantities so that people can actually buy and sell them to make it look like they have more followers.
Other accounts are made to trick users into paying for fake products or services, according to Mashable.
"No matter what your posting or engagement strategy is, bots and fake accounts still manage to sneak in and plague your follower list," Susan B. Zimmerman, a business coach who helps clients with Instagram marketing, tells Bustle. "Having too many of these accounts following you can bring down your overall engagement rate." Jihana Barrett, cybersecurity expert, and owner of CybrSuite, agrees: “Fake accounts can actually get your page shut down. If enough of them follow you at one time, Instagram can assume that you have attempted to buy followers which is a huge no no. Also, it isn’t considered real engagement or followers. So if you are an influencer, the comments and likes fake accounts make don’t necessarily work in your favor,” she says.
The good thing is that phony Instagram accounts aren't too difficult to find. Here are seven red flags to keep an eye out for if you're trying to root them out:
1
It Has A Generic Bio
Oftentimes, you can get the sense that an account is fake just by looking at its bio or description.
Those who are creating fake accounts usually do so by the dozen or hundred. Since creativity is not their main concern, their bios look highly fabricated or randomly generated, according to Veloce International, a social media strategy site.
2
It Doesn't Have Many Posts
Sure, not everyone uses Instagram religiously. But if an account that already seems shady barely has any pictures or posts, odds are it's a fake account. It may seem counterproductive to create fake accounts and not have them post anything, but sometimes these fake Instagram accounts, or "bots," are there for following accounts rather than posting content, according to Wired. Because Instagram influencers get chosen and paid based on their audience size, some of them could be buying into fake accounts just to up their own appeal.
3
The Posts It Does Have Promote A Product
If an account does have posts, but the posts consist only of promotional material, suspicious give-aways, or fake discounts on items, it's likely that the account is fake, according to Mashable.
These accounts are either attempting to trick you into buying into a scam, or clicking on a link that may be beneficial to their numbers. “Pay special attention to fake accounts that promote a product. Believe it or not, even when accounts are fake and appear to be fake, there are people who will ignore all of the signs and still spend or send their money to these fraudulent accounts,” says Barrett.
4
Its Followers Are Random
An Instagram account is often used as a way to share posts with friends and family, and then expand to other followers. So, if you see that an account has a bunch of random followers with no consistent people commenting on their pictures, there's a chance that the account is fake.
5
It's Following A Lot Of Other Accounts
Usually Instagram accounts have almost as many followers as it does the number of accounts it's following (or even more). But fake accounts, because they go on random and intensive following sprees, will have a higher ratio of accounts they're following than actual followers that they have — and this number is usually significant, according to onehowto.
com, a how-to blog that answers common questions.
6
It Was Created Recently
Fake accounts are usually created quickly and in large numbers, without having much of a lifespan to them. This means that seeing how old the Instagram account is can be an indicator of whether the account is real or fake. Whether the account has one post or many, if you see that its posts are all fairly recent and posted over the span of a short time, this can mean the account is fake, according to Forbes. Fake accounts will sometimes have tons of posts to make it seem like a real account, but if these are all from around the same time, they might be spamming to fake authenticity.
7
The Accounts Have Irrelevant Comments
“Look at the comments the fake accounts have under their photos (if any) or look at the comments they leave under posts on other pages. Usually the comments are irrelevant or spam-like which is a good indicator that it is a fake,” says Barrett.
“Once your page is public it is vulnerable to people trying to impersonate your account or trying to get your page shut down or spamming you with irrelevant comments.”
“Look at the comments the fake accounts have under their photos (if any) or look at the comments they leave under posts on other pages. Usually the comments are irrelevant or spam-like which is a good indicator that it is a fake,” says Barrett. “Once your page is public it is vulnerable to people trying to impersonate your account or trying to get your page shut down or spamming you with irrelevant comments.”
This article was originally published on
How to identify a fake Instagram account and how to block it
Many girls check their boyfriends for allegiance using fake Instagram profiles that are difficult to distinguish from real accounts. What to look for in order to identify a fake page, and how to protect yourself from fakes, the author of Medialeaks figured out.
How to distinguish a fake account from a real one
To check the relationship with a young man, many girls go to the trick - they create or buy fake social media accounts and try to start a conversation with boyfriends on behalf of a pretty stranger. It is not easy to make a fake realistic, it is only more difficult to distinguish a well-designed fake.
Tiktoker nexllery shared with her followers the basic rules for maintaining a fake Instagram account, based on which a fake profile can be calculated. The author of the tutorial advised to fill the page with photos of girls whose appearance does not have catchy details - for example, hair dyed in bright colors.
Do not say that you are from the same city (suddenly offer to meet), - advises the user of tiktok.
Also, the tiktoker recommended not to subscribe to her real account and to the profiles of her friends, as this could link the fake with the owner.
Fake accounts often use several pictures where the face is visible, while the rest hide it in the shade, cover it with hair or post a photo from the back. The most cunning owners of fake profiles take frames from network users who publish pictures specifically for fake pages.
Usually, the set of photos for fakes includes pictures typical for Instagram of many girls. Selfies, shots from the fitting room, a picture with a large soft toy and a photo in the mirror. An example of such a kit can be seen in the account of the tiktoker __s.berry.s__.
Photo from the collection __s.berry.s__ Tiktoker victoriamilonkova shared a life hack that will help you recognize a fake account with real footage. The author of the video suggested using the search by photo. According to her, it is necessary to check the pictures through Yandex, as it gives more results about Russian-language resources.
Sometimes girls use fakes not to check boyfriends, but to arouse jealousy in former or future boyfriends. Tiktokersha mona_user created a fake guy account on instagram so that users of the social network could tag him in stories.
Girls, specially created a fake account for you. You will say that this is your boyfriend, I will respond to your stories, make fake correspondence. Photos are updated every day, as well as stories.
It is easier to figure out a fake young man - due to the fact that the guys do not share their photos to create fakes, the authors have to take frames from the Web, in which the face is most often not visible.
Another "red flag" is a large number of girls in the readers and a small number of subscriptions.
Signs of a fake account:
- many photos where the face is not visible;
- few subscribers;
- image without bright details;
- subscription to your girlfriend or her friends;
- the interlocutor's refusal to tell where she lives;
- coincidence of photos in the accounts of different girls when searching through Yandex.Pictures.
How to protect yourself from fakes
Tiktoker _m_a_r_i_k_eslicho told how to block fake accounts on Instagram that belong to one person at a time.
When any account is blocked, all accounts linked to the same number or e-mail are automatically blocked. Girls, we urgently delete the left accounts, otherwise we will burn in any way.
First of all, you need to go to the profile you are going to block and click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the screen.
A menu will appear below, in which you should select "Block" and click the "*nickname* and new accounts of this user" button.
How to ban a person on InstagramSuch a ban system will help close your profile from other fake accounts of the same person, no matter when they were created - before or after blocking.
This function will also let you know if the user had other profiles that you did not know about. If yes, then in the "Banned Accounts" section, the icon of the banned person will have a gray "shadow".
Several blocked accountsYou may not see the nickname of the additional profile, but you can be sure that the owner of the fakes will not disturb you, since Instagram will automatically block new accounts of this person for you. However, if the owner of a fake account is your girlfriend, then it will probably not be possible to avoid a showdown.
Many netizens criticize the idea of checking a guy's fidelity through a fake social media account. This is probably why they tell you how to detect a fake and how to block it.
Previously, Medialeaks talked about three ways to check if you got an Instagram shadowban.
In another article by Medialeaks, you can find out how the fake story of Dasha Koreika confused the Internet users. Many believed that the blogger regrets the change of sex.
How to find out who owns Instagram ➤ See whose Instagram
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Content
- 1 How to find out whose Instagram
- 2 Search by profile picture Instagram
- 3 Follower survey 4052 Instagram search apps 4052 person on Instagram
Instagram is a popular platform among both ordinary users and scammers. There are many fake accounts on the social network, with the help of which a person tries to deceive other users.
Impersonal pages are also common - there is no information on them, except for the nickname. It is possible to find the owner of the page. The basic way that is allowed by law is an official appeal to the prosecutor's office or the police.
After that, the certified document is sent to the Instagram administration. If the reason for the request is serious, the admins will consider the appeal and allow you to access the personal information of another user.
This method is complicated and is only suitable for situations where you have become a victim of scammers or your Instagram account has been hacked. A positive response to the request is received by a few users.
How to find out whose Instagram is
But in addition to serious actions, you can try to find out on your own whose Instagram it is and its owner. Watch our video tutorial step by step.
Other ways to get the information you need include:
- browser nickname search,
- profile picture search,
- subscriber survey,
- information search utilities.
How to find owner information by nickname in browser:
If a user has entered his first and last name or nickname on Instagram, you can search for information about him through search engines to understand who owns Instagram.
To do this, enter your Instagram nickname, any known information and start the search. A user with the same nickname can be registered on VKontakte, Tik Tok or Facebook. On these platforms, you can find additional information and identify the owner of an Instagram account.
Instagram profile picture search
If there is no nickname in the account or a photo is uploaded in addition to it, search for the user by it. To do this, take a screenshot of the screen - you can use it both from your phone and from a PC.
Then crop the picture so that there are no extra letters, numbers or other images. After that, in Google or Yandex, start searching by image.
If there are similar materials on the Internet, they will be highlighted after the search is over.
Then you can go to the resources where the same files are published to see information about the owner.
Instagram follower survey
Profile may not contain personal information or photo content. In such situations, interview followers who may be familiar with the page owner. As a rule, fake accounts can be followed by those people who are being followed.
To find out whose Instagram profile is in front of you, unsubscribe to people in private messages - the text should contain a greeting and a specific question.
It's a good idea to state why you need the data because not all people will agree to share personal information without a good reason to do so.
It is better to look for people not among those whom the user has subscribed to - the number can exceed both 1000 and 10000 people. In the field with followers on Instagram, there are usually fewer people if this is not a blogger or brand account.
Applications for searching a person on Instagram
There are many services on the network that find information about a user by his id.
However, often access to data is paid or the site belongs to scammers.
If on the page I ask for a login, password and bank card number, this is a 100 percent fraudulent site. If only the username and password, then the page can be used, but make sure that the developer is trusted and reliable.
Data retrieval utilities also appear regularly. Below is the search process through a special program - Tooligram:
- Find the application on the network or GooglePlay, AppStore and download it to your phone.
- Then install the utility and register.
- Next, open the section called "Task Manager".
- Find the conversion function in it.
- Next, specify the id of the user about whom you need data. The system will open the profile and the data it has collected from it. Some items are available to those users who have subscribed to the application with payment.
There are many applications with similar functionality, but they mainly collect statistics on Instagram.
