There are definately a lot of fake Facebook profiles out there. Numbers released from Facebook themself suggests that 83 million facebook accounts are fake – that’s more than the total number of people living in France and the Netherlands combined! An estimated 5-6% of all Facebook accounts are fake. Fake autogenerated profiles offer the creators of those the possibility of spamming your wall with weird content and also bloat the number of fans for certain pages.

There are some studies of fake Facebook profiles that indicate that fake profiles have a higher average number of friends and most often identify themselves as females. For identifying whether a specific profile is fake these studies however only offer vague clues.

Analytical data abounds on the realities of online dating — and not all of it is good news. For example, 10% of dating profiles are fake, and over $50 million is lost every year from cons, according to the FBI, which receives thousands of romance scam complaints annually. 'The claim that Match contacts users with fake profiles just as their memberships are about to expire is categorically false. At Match, the safety and well-being of our community is a top priority.

How To Identify Fake Dating Profiles

So how to spot a fake Facebook profile?

Looking at a company Facebook page the other day I noticed an unnatural high number of fans for that type of company but strangely very low fan activity on the same Facebook page. Very few likes and no comments made it a bit of a strange case. I did find a few Likes though and decided to have a closer look at those profiles. I came up with the following little trick which also will introduce you to a great and not that well-known feature of Google. Here goes:

1. Locate the Profile image of the Facebook profile you want to check. For this little test let’s use the SPAMfighter Aim logo present on the SPAMfighter Facebook page.

2. Right-click on the image and save it somewhere where you easily can find it again! The Windows desktop would be a great place!

3. Now enter Google Image Search. Google Image Search is a great tool where you can search for images based on other images. I would suggest using Google Chrome or Firefox as Browser here. For some reason it does not seem to work for Internet Explorer 9.

4. Drag the recently saved file from your desktop til the search field. It is a little nifty but you will probably work it out!

5. Now Google Image Search will check where the image is present on Facebook profiles and a lot of other places on the Internet.

If we for a moment return to my original fake profile my search using the above method actually produced a lot of Facebook profiles having the same profile image. See below. My best guess is that most of those Facebook profiles are fake!

Remember to delete any profile images you download from Facebook by the way. Pretty sure Facebook or Facebook users don’t want their profile images laying around on your computer!

Are anyone stealing your Facebook profile image?

A nice little test would of cource be to test whether any fake Facebook profiles use your profile image? Using the test above it is pretty easy to reveal. So locate your own Facebook page, save the profile image you use and do the Google image search. If you notice your profile image present on other profiles I suggest you report it to Facebook using this link.

How To Tell Fake Dating Profile

The topic of identity theft makes headlines every year during tax season, which is understandable, considering the potential financial impact of fake claims. But there’s growing type of fraud that small-business owners should monitor carefully: social media impersonation.

Most often, the practice takes the form of fake profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter that purport to represent a person — usually someone with a high-profile presence on the internet — or a brand, but actually have no affiliation with them. There are myriad motives for setting up fake social media profiles, ranging from parodies to phishing schemes (that aim to reap financial gain from someone’s friends or followers).

Although it’s hard to dig up scientific estimates for how many social media accounts are fakes, an SBA research paper [PDF] suggests that 5 percent to 6 percent of all Facebook users aren’t who they seem to be.

You could be a victim without realizing it. Case in point: When I searched Twitter recently, looking to change my handle, I discovered an unauthorized account using my name and photo. Twitter disabled the impostor’s account about a week and a half after my official complaint. (I had to submit several forms of ID, including my passport.)

Why should small-business owners worry about social media impersonation? The Intuit Small Business Blog talked to someone who knows firsthand: Erin J. Morgart. Morgart (pictured) is a high-profile personal fitness trainer and model whose social identity is integral to her marketing activities. By her own account, she’s had her image stolen on Twitter and her account hacked on Facebook. The Harvard-educated entrepreneur, now the social media adviser to a Fortune 500 company, has some tips for protecting yourself and your brand.

ISBB: Have you ever been the victim of a fake profile?

Morgart: Yes, I have [on Twitter]. The funny thing was, they put it under a different name but with my picture. I made a comment there, “I’m honored you have used my picture, but could you please have asked me first?” The user immediately took it down. They didn’t realize that I would even see it.

The thing that really upset me was my first profile on Facebook, which I had since I think 2009, was hacked in October 2012. The person changed everything. There was absolutely no way I could get into it: no email, no telephone, nothing. I sent everything to Facebook, including my passport, to report it. [Morgart says she is still waiting for her case to be resolved. -Ed.]

Why would someone create a fake profile or hack an account?

My Dates Fake Profiles Free

They are either stalkers or they are bored. They want to feel validated. … There’s a whole variety of reasons. From a psychological standpoint, sometimes they just simply want to — not get back at you — but they have a vendetta against something you represent.

How common are fake business accounts?

I have found it be highly unusual for someone to hijack or create a fake business profile. It’s more of a person or personality than a business, by and large. People know that they could face a whole litany of litigation factors. … People won’t try to go after the business, but they might try to go after the person behind the business.

How can you tell if a profile is fake?

Not always but usually there is a misspelling of the name. There are some celebrities who misspell their names to make it appear as if it is a fake, so that can happen either way. Another tipoff is when a profile doesn’t contain an authentic website that you can actually go to that leads you to the agent or the publicist or the management team for the celebrity of the personality. If that is not included, then it is 99 percent likely to be fake. Also, another huge one, that people don’t look at, but I do, you always have to look at the [person’s] friends list. … For example, if all of [the friends] are from a country that is completely different than the person is from, then it is so, so, so obvious that it is not that person. …

The other thing is look at the pictures that they post. If it is a fake, they will throw in all these other random pictures of whatever. I get myself tagged in pictures. You can control that. It can be a pain, because you could have to sort out all the things people tag you in. That could be 80 to 100 pictures per day.

How can a small-business owner take action if someone is impersonating them?

I think a public statement should be issued. I had to do that with my first profile. Once someone literally hijacks your profile, they are representing you. [To prevent hacking,] change your password once a week. I mean, really, especially if you are very high-profile. I speak four languages, so I use all four all the time. I use different languages, a combination of languages. I make my password as nonsensical as I can.

Resources for Reporting Social Media Fraud

Facebook

• Report a Fake Accounts (this falls under Tools for Reporting Abuse)

LinkedIn

Twitter