Identifying Instagram Fake Accounts

Instagram has become one of the most popular social media platforms in recent years, with over a billion users worldwide. However, with the application’s popularity also comes the rise of fake Instagram accounts. These accounts are created for various purposes, such as spamming, phishing, or even identity theft. This blog explores different ways to spot fake Instagram accounts.

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Why is the Number of Instagram Fake Accounts Growing?

The rise of fake accounts on Instagram can be attributed to factors such as:

The Need for Anonymity: Some people create fake accounts to express themselves anonymously or to engage in activities that they would not want to be associated with their real-life identities. This includes things like posting controversial content or trolling other users.
Financial Gain: Some people create a fake account on Instagram to make money. They sell fake followers to other users or use other users’ accounts to promote products or services.
Malicious Intent: Other people create fake accounts to spread malware or phishing scams. They also use these accounts to impersonate other users or to harass or bully others.

5 Ways to Spot a Fake Account on Instagram

To stay safe on Instagram, you need to learn how to spot a fake account. This blog will explore 5 of these ways to spot fake Instagram accounts:

Zero or Very Few Posts

An Instagram account with very few posts or no posts at all could potentially be a fake account since many such accounts are created with the intention of scamming or spamming users. These fake accounts may use stolen photos or images from other users to make the account appeal legitimate.

Furthermore, by not posting any or only a few posts, the account may be trying to avoid detection by Instagram’s automated fake Instagram account checker and spam filters or waiting to gain more followers and reach before starting to post spam or scam content.

Irrelevant Content & Comments

Conversely, fake accounts post content that is often irrelevant to the account’s supposed purpose. For example, a fashion account, posting stuff about fashion obviously, suddenly starts posting about cryptocurrencies is likely to be fake. Similarly, an account that posts too frequently about questionable content, like adult content, is likely to be fake.

Moreover, some accounts on Instagram are created to send spam messages or phishing links to users. The irrelevant content on the account could be a way of luring people in and making the account appear more legitimate.

Poor Follower-Following Ratio

Additionally, an unusual follower-to-following ratio could signify a fake account. If an account has very few or zero followers but follows a large number of accounts or has many followers but follows very few people, it is potentially a fake account.

Furthermore, the account might be created only to follow certain Instagram accounts to increase their follower count. Either way, the follower-following rate will be sceptical as they do not really engage with people, and their sole purpose is to follow other accounts.

Absurd Usernames

Some fake Instagram accounts are created by bots or automated scripts. These accounts are assigned random or illogical usernames as a way to quickly generate a large number of accounts and execute the malicious activities they were created for.

Such an account tries to hide its true intent or motive by deceiving users with a random fake username. Accounts with weird usernames may want to mimic the usernames of real people or brands to dupe others.

Promotional DMs & Posts

For similar objectives mentioned in the above ways, fake Instagram accounts send promotional DMs that end up in the ‘Requests’ section of the inbox and post promotional content on their feeds, to lure people by giving them free money or gifts.

Some fake account owners use promotional DMs as a way to spam or phish for personal information. They ask you for your email address or password in exchange for a promotional offer that could put your account and personal information in danger.

Apart from these ways, there are many Instagram fake account finders. A lot of them are found in your respective smartphone app stores. These Instagram fake account checkers use a lot of statistics and authentication technologies to figure out which accounts are real and fish out the ones that aren’t.

Ways to Stay Safe from Fake Instagram Accounts

Before following or interacting with an account, check its profile information, including its username and bio. Fake Instagram accounts often have incomplete information.
Avoid clicking on links you may receive in direct messages or comments from unknown or suspicious accounts. These links often lead to phishing sites or malware downloads.
Use Instagram’s ‘Report’ feature to block fake accounts from following or interacting with you.