Facebook: How to recognize a fake profile

It’s not easy to recognize a Facebook fake profile. With a few tricks, you can distinguish a fake profile from a real one.

Trust is good, control is better: How to recognize a Facebook fake profile

You receive a friend request, a message or an offer on Facebook, but the name or profile doesn’t look familiar? Don’t worry: this happens to many Facebook users every day. However, with a few tips and tricks, you can easily tell whether it’s a real or fake profile. This way, you can protect yourself from love scammers and rip-offs.

• First of all, take a close look at the profile. Facebook allows you to scrutinize various data on the main profile page. If the account was only recently created and there are no or hardly any friends on the Facebook friends list, you should be suspicious.

• If the profile owner is not using a photo on Facebook, you should be careful. The same applies if the person is only blurred or barely recognizable in pictures.

• Also check how many posts have been made on the supposed fake account so far. Many fake profiles post hardly any or no status updates.

• If you are skeptical, write a message. Actively ask where you know each other from. Perhaps there are parallels and you can confirm the friend request with peace of mind.

• If the profile owner makes excuses, it is better to break off contact. Delete the request or any offers to avoid nasty surprises.

How to react to contact requests from fake profiles

First check where the person is coming from. You should not confirm a friend request from people you do not know. The same applies to friend requests from people who claim to be famous.

• Have you received a message from someone on Facebook? That’s great. However, you don’t have to respond to the message if you don’t know the person or if it’s obviously a fake personality.

• In most cases, these people have a specific goal in mind with the fake profiles on Facebook: it is not uncommon for them to want to collect sensitive data or make money. Mass emails, also known as spam, can also end up in your message folder on Facebook – it is best not to click on links that you do not recognize or that appear dubious.

• Many fake profiles are set up with photos of famous, attractive women or men to lure users in. Private photos are rare, but even then, be on your guard. You can recognize trustworthy, prominent Facebook profiles by the blue check mark.

• The blue tick is a special symbol and indicates that the Facebook account has undergone a special check. In this case, you can assume that it is a real user account.

• If you do not trust the contact or the message of a Facebook profile, simply do not accept the request. Just click on the messages or requests with your mouse to delete them. This way you protect yourself from spam or data misuse.