In the world of the Internet where electronic media have dominated communication and direct contact is becoming increasingly indirect, things tend to change radically and fraud becomes a dominant phenomenon.
People of all ages have personal accounts on social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) and participate in public blogs and forums, while they meet new people every day through them, chatting and exchanging even personal information with them, such as photos, residence details, age, etc. But what if the account is fake? What actions should be taken when we receive friend requests and how can we understand if it is a 'phishing' profile with the aim of extracting personal data from us?
Calm down! A fake profile has all those elements that can reveal it! What are they?
Below we have written down the 6 signs that indicate if a profile is a scam. Let's look at them in detail.
1) Search for the profile name on Google: The user we are investigating may also be registered on other pages or profiles, so a search will show us the relevant results. Correspondingly, on a public profile or blog, the search will have to do with further information about the content.
2) Update Frequency: If there are few to no posts and infrequent updates, then this is suspicious. This parameter is especially true for blogs that are constantly updated on a variety of topics.
3) Mutual Friends: The question of why we have a new request can be answered by whether there are mutual friends between us. However, in a fake account, those are usually zero or sometimes minimal for the so-called "unpicking".
4) Photos: The number of photos plays a very important role. When there are few photos on a profile and the same person is not always depicted, then the conclusion is obvious. We can also search on Google if the photo of the suspicious profile is depicted somewhere and where it was stolen from.
5) Friends' Comments: Most of the time, those who create fake accounts keep it a secret even from those close to them. Therefore, interaction on comments and posts is minimal.
6) Publications: We look for his publications and interests through previous communications. If most of them are articles from another page, then it is definitely a negative sample.
You don't need to be a hacker or a detective to discover a fake profile. It just takes a little observation and self-control before you click the accept button on a profile. By making someone a friend on Facebook, you automatically 'put' them in your personal life, and certainly someone you don't know wouldn't be right and, above all, safe.
Source: Audax Cybersecurity
