I’ve warned you before about the proliferation of fake Facebook friend requests out there. I two the other day that made me laugh. Here’s why: two separate fake profiles using pictures of the same person.
Scammers most often use these three tactics for their fake accounts:
- They clone the account of a real person, use their pictures, and target their friends.
- They impersonate well-known people
- They copy photos and create online profiles they feel will appeal to the people they are targeting.
Most likely what these scammers did was find a real Facebook profile and screenshot the photos or found photos of the unlucky person they picked somewhere else online. In my case, they figured a nice-looking middle-aged guy was just what I was looking for.
Here are the two requests:
Yep! They used the same photos for both fake profiles. Even if that wasn’t already a giveaway, one look at the profile tells me it was just created. There are only a couple of posts. Now, you can safely hit the Delete button at this stage.
Nearly all of these fake friends end up going after money. Some by pretending to be someone you know in need or a friend letting you in on a great investment opportunity. Sometimes they impersonate a celebrity and engage in fake fundraising. Other times these crooks work to become a romantic interest or a sympathetic friend before they hit you up for money.
I always make a habit of reporting them, just to do what I can to prevent them from perhaps targeting someone vulnerable. To do that, go to their profile and find the three-dot more button.
Choose Report profile.
Select Fake Account.
Then choose Done.
One thing I found particularly funny about this guy is that after I reported him, he changed his profile picture to this and added what I will assume is his real name. Guess he has a lot of different looks.
Here’s the deal, it’s best not to accept friend requests from people you don’t know. If you think they might know you through a friend or could be an old friend from high school, you can ask some specific questions. If they don’t have the answer, forget about them.