facebook imposters

posted by misterhaan in internet, facebook on aug 19, 2016

i’ve seen a few cases of imposter accounts on facebook that have been affecting my friends and family. here’s some details about how that happens and what you should do about it.

by default, everyone’s name and profile photo on facebook are public. this is mostly a good thing because it helps people who know you to actually find you. the downside is it lets people with nothing better to do create a new account using the same name and photo and pretend to be you. friends lists are visible by default to anyone logged into facebook, which again helps people who actually know you be more sure that they’ve found the correct person with your name. for someone making imposter accounts though, this means they have a list of the people most likely to accept friend requests from their imposter account.

if someone copies your account that rarely means your account has been compromised; they just picked a random facebook account to copy. you haven’t done anything dangerous and don’t need to change your facebook password, but if it makes you feel safer it doesn’t hurt. you will probably find out about your imposter through a friend wondering why they got another friend request from you. post a status explaining to your friends that recent friend requests are not actually you and should not be accepted. go to the imposter profile and report them to facebook to hopefully get it deleted. for both the app and the website report is in the menu you get from clicking the ellipsis to the right of the message icon.

on the other side, if you get a friend request from an imposter the best thing to do is not accept it. you can also report the account. facebook will just close your report saying they’ll follow up with your friend, but that can help your friend know to deal with it. friend requests from imposters will have the name and photo of someone you know, so it’s not completely obvious when it’s a fake. here are a few tips to help you avoid becoming friends with someone who isn’t who you think they are on facebook:

• if you find yourself wondering how you weren’t already friends with that person, check if you are. if so, tell the account you’re already friends with about the possible imposter.
• look at the profile. the imposter accounts i’ve seen only have a profile picture, name, and friends. typically real accounts will have a status update about having joined facebook, or maybe one about losing access to the old account so created a new one.
• don’t be swayed by mutual friends. just because someone you know didn’t notice the account is an imposter doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to figure it out.

if you have accepted a friend request from an account that you think is an imposter, you still probably don’t have much to worry about. anything you’ve put on facebook that only your friends can see is now visible to this unknown person. that’s not what you wanted, but it shouldn’t be enough to steal your identity or anything. if you’ve put your address, phone number, and / or e-mail on your profile for your friends then the imposter could sign you up for spam or junk mail. delete them from your friends as soon as you realize they are an imposter and maybe they won’t have had time to see anything. the biggest danger is if you don’t notice you’re friends with an imposter and they ask you for sensitive information (atm card pin, social security number, etc). facebook isn’t the best way to tell someone sensitive information anyway though.

imposters on facebook are more of a nuisance than a danger. it can feel invasive or even scary if it happens to you though, so hopefully these facts and advice help you see it for what it is.