How to deal with a facebook fake account

Some people will try to dupe Facebook users for reasons of their own, from having a bit of fun, to duping for its own sake, right through to grooming people online or seeking to behave fraudulently. For your own sake, knowing how to spot a fake Facebook account is an important part of keeping safe online and remaining distant from people you don't know.

If you're wondering what can happen to you from having a fake friend on Facebook, there are quite a few things that can cause you distress and loss from being involved with a con artist (which a Facebook faker usually is). For example, you could be manipulated into believing someone really cares about you when all they want is to play mind games for their own satisfaction or to get money, goods, property, or something else from you. The impostor might also be setting you up to steal your identity or valuable information from you that they can use to manipulate someone else.

If you're not sure, consider the following:

 Does what is being said add up or are there some really hard-to-believe statements being made? For example, maybe there is a photo of a very young person next to claims of being a professor or a CEO. Does the embellishment seem more than the usual "making oneself look good" and come across as simply implausible? Trust your own senses on this one. You could even ask for proofs of some of the things the person has stated.

Are their friends global or local? The more local the friends, the more likely the person is to be real. The more global their friendship list, with very few or no local friends, start getting suspicious. The lack of local friends suggests that this is not a real persona you're dealing with but a fake account.

If you're in the (not-so-great) habit of accepting friend requests from friends of friends' friends or because they seem to have similar tastes to yours in music, cooking, dancing, or whatever, then you leave yourself open to the occasional fake. While you can make wonderful connections in this way, try to always have someone you do know vouch for this person first. And if that's not possible, be alert to signs of weird behavior, such as suddenly bombarding you with likes, comments, photos, etc. on a daily basis. If you hardly know this person, they should be taking things slowly and politely, not invading your space immediately.

At one time it was probably reasonable to think that if someone had a group of friends interacting with them and vouching for each other, that that person must be real. However, there are increasing cases of one person running numerous fake Facebook accounts, pretending to be an array of different people, all vouching for one another and all trying to be friends with someone real! For example, the case of Natalia Burgess who wove a web of deceit and caused many young males to fall for her various aliases, all because she felt inadequately loved. Sadly, impostors of this sort go to incredible lengths to create an array of fake accounts including other social media accounts and websites to give the impression that their fake personas are "real".

 If you're being targeted by an elaborate web of lies, eventually these start to unravel. This is most evident in someone who is trying to maintain several fake Facebook accounts at once and eventually, they will drop the ball and mix up their stories. If you start noticing this in response to questions, or in their comments, take note and remain alert for more inconsistencies.

 For example, if an adult is pretending to be a teen, they may say something that dates them by referring to an historic event or person that teens wouldn't really know much about. Or they may prove to know way too much about a topic that someone they're claiming to be would not.

If someone you've never met, who lives thousands of miles away from you, and who has barely revealed themselves gets amorous with you, be suspicious. Sometimes the faker does this because they love the feeling of playing with the life and feelings of someone else; sometimes it's because they're in love with online love but are too afraid to reveal their true selves (or they're in a relationship in real life); and other times it could be that they're after something, like money, sex, or drugs.

 It's not like they're your real friends or family but they could cause you a lot of problems if they keep pretending to be someone they're not to a point where it harms you. Warn other friends of yours on Facebook if you know they have also friended the fake account; one of the tactics of an impostor is to befriend others in your circle of friends to try and make the friendship seem more "real".

In 2006, co-workers Thomas Montgomery and Brian Barrett became so entangled in an online love triangle with a young woman who identified herself as "talhotblond" that Thomas eventually murdered Barrett at their office. Neither man realized that they were fighting over an overweight, middle-aged, stay-at-home mom.

So before falling hard for an online-only acquaintance, here are a few tips, gleaned from "Catfish," to help you detect fraudulent profiles on social networking and dating sites.

1. The perfect person is not a real person. A supermodel or retouched profile photo should raise the first red flag. 

2. Be wary if the profile describes a personality that complements your own or is too good to be true. Often, imposters will create interests and activities that mirror your own in order to start a conversation. 

3. Check how many friends and followers are listed in the person's network. The average Facebook user has 130 friends. An imposter will often have significantly fewer. 

4. Determine whether any of your "mutual friends" have actually met your newest online acquaintance in person. 

5. Use search engines to do a quick background check on the name and basic information used in a profile. If the profile claims the person attended Oxford, currently works as a CEO at an international company or runs marathons, you should be able to find mentions of these achievements on alumni, company or running sites, respectively. Schulman admitted that Googling Megan earlier in their relationship could have saved him a great deal of embarrassment and heartbreak. 

6. Peruse posted pictures and albums carefully. A real person will often have pictures with friends and family, who will have tagged and commented on photos. By contrast, imposters will often use modeling photos featuring only glamorous shots of the individual rather than group photos. 

7. Don't be tricked if your friend has multiple people who vouch for him or her online. One person can easily make multiple accounts to make it appear as if there is a support network of family and friends. 

8. Imposters will often try to interact with your own friends and family members to create a broader sense of familiarity and build up a broader network of trust. 

9. Finally, if you've been harmed by someone who posted a fake profile, report it to site monitors and authorities. Although it may be humiliating to be duped online, authorities will be able to identify imposters and close their accounts more quickly than you working independently.