It is not uncommon nowadays to have your social media accounts flooded with fake accounts following or messaging you. As a result the need to be able to distinguish between real and fake accounts is growing. There are four steps that you can take to determine if an account is legitimate.
- Look at their interactions with other people, if there are not many interactions with other accounts compared to posts it may be fake.
- Is the account new? If so, and you do not know this person it is possible that it is a spam account.
- Is the account a celebrity or other public figure? Check for a verification mark, if it does not have one it is likely a fake.
- Are you or others being spammed by the account with links or? If so it is very likely the account is illegitimate.
If you are ever suspicious of an account, you should block and report it. If the account is real you may always unblock it.
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