Someone created a fake facebook account of me

Q: What can I do if someone creates a fake Facebook account?

Go to the impersonating profile. If you cant find it, try searching for the name used on the profile or asking your friends if they can send you a link to it. Tap below the cover photo and select Find Support or Report Profile. Follow the on-screen instructions for impersonation to file a report.

Q: Why would someone set up a fake Facebook account in my name?

Its well known that scammers use fake Facebook accounts to connect with users and their friends to scrape personal information in an effort to steal identities. Fake account owners also reach out to anyone whos accepted their friend request to try and scam them out of money.

Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan warned followers about a page pretending to be her. What do you do when someone uses your name and picture online?

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What can I do if someone creates a fake Facebook account?
Why would someone set up a fake Facebook account in my name?
Can a fake Facebook profile be traced?
What to do when someone makes a fake account of you?

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Imagine finding someone pretending to be you on social media, using your name and pictures.

Cybersecurity experts said it happens more often than you think. The latest victim is Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan. Someone made a fake Instagram account impersonating her.

The fake account was still up Wednesday night.

Vaughan said she also found a fake Facebook page for herself. She did what most people would do in that situation, and reported both fake profiles.

Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram will let you file a report on fake accounts. Cybersecurity expert Ron Pierce said it can take days to get a fake profile taken down.

"Somebody on Facebook's end is going to have to review it just to be sure," Pierce said. "Once it goes through the review process, then usually they will terminate it."

It can be hard to tell the difference between a real account and a fake one.

Both of the Nancy Vaughan accounts had the same page bio and almost the exact same posts. A key sign to look out for is the number of followers.

The real account has thousands. The fake has less than 100. Pierce said fake accounts will usually have a small number of followers or friends.

He also said sometimes imposters are just creating mischief but most of the time it's more than that.

"It's in the hopes they can trick somebody," Pierce said. "They can message someone and they'll get personal information or depending on the scam, possibly even money."

It's not just a problem for public figures. It happens to private citizens too. Pierce said it can be hard to stop someone from taking your name and pictures, so you have to be on the lookout for impostors.

"If you have friends telling you that they got a friend request from you, go and see if you can find that profile, report it to Facebook and get it taken down," Pierce said.

In the meantime, Pierce said you should make a post warning your followers that any messages from the fake account are not coming from you.

Filed Under: Stay Safe Online

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Imagine this scenario. You’re browsing on Facebook and one of your friends sends you a message querying why you just sent them a friend request.

You never sent such a request, and upon an investigation, it turns out someone unbeknown to you has created an account that appears identical to yours. Same name, same profile picture. Same information.

And this fake Facebook account is sending friend requests to all your friends.

It’s called Facebook cloning. And despite the crook creating a duplicate account under your name, it’s actually your friends that are the target of this scam, not you.

The aim of the criminal is to trick your friends into accepting a friend request from the cloned account they created while thinking it’s you. Once that friend request is accepted, the crook has access to the innards of your friends Facebook accounts including their personal information.

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From there, any number of social engineering scams can take place. For example, the crook can lure your friends into clicking links, giving up sensitive information or even handing over money, the whole time tricking your friends into thinking they’re communicating with you.

Facebook cloning scams are extremely popular over social media, primarily because they require little technical know-how since the crook merely has to create a Facebook account with your profile picture and name and then send friend requests. As such, almost anyone could orchestrate such a scam.

Fortunately you can stop crooks in their tracks. By hiding your Facebook friends list. Without knowing who you’re friends with on Facebook, the crooks don’t know who to send friend requests to.

To hide your friends list, head to Facebook’s website (not using the app) and head to your profile and click Friends. Then click the pencil icon and Manage Privacy and there you will see the Who can see your friends list? option. Make sure public is NOT selected. Instead select Friends or better yet Only Me.

If you believe you’re already the target of a cloning scam, first report the profile by going to the offending profile page and clicking the Report option. Then warn all your friends not to interact or accept a friend request from any other accounts that appear to be yours.

Keep up-to-date with all the latest cybersecurity threats and our tips to stay safe online. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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What can I do if someone creates a fake Facebook account?

Go to the impersonating profile. If you can't find it, try searching for the name used on the profile or asking your friends if they can send you a link to it. Tap below the cover photo and select Find Support or Report Profile. Follow the on-screen instructions for impersonation to file a report.

Why would someone set up a fake Facebook account in my name?

It's well known that scammers use fake Facebook accounts to connect with users and their friends to scrape personal information in an effort to steal identities. Fake account owners also reach out to anyone who's accepted their friend request to try and scam them out of money.

Can a fake Facebook profile be traced?

Unfortunately, there is no way to find out who is behind a fake account on Facebook without tricking them. The only way to reveal them would be to trick them into revealing their IP address. But, this helps you only in getting their location. There are some ways to determine if an account is fake, though.

What to do when someone makes a fake account of you?

If someone created an Instagram account pretending to be you, you can report it to us. Make sure to provide all the requested info, including a photo of your government-issued ID. If you have an Instagram account, you can report it to us from within the app, or by filling out this form.