Do not be fooled! Recognize the Signs Fake Facebook Account and How to Report Them

Do not be fooled! Recognize the Signs Fake Facebook Account and How to Report Them

Things to do if you find a fake Facebook account. 

Facebook illustration. [Shutterstock]

- Cloned Facebook accounts use names and photos from real accounts to trick people into providing information. When fraudsters get their hands on a user's friend's Facebook account, they gain access to that person's friend list. 

Hackers can then use phishing techniques, trick other Facebook users, and spread malware to the user and everyone on the person's Facebook friends list. 

It's even worse if the user's friend's Facebook account is not hacked but cloned. If that happens, here's what to do if a user's friend's Facebook account is hacked: If a user suspects that someone has made a copy of a friend's Facebook account, here's what to do immediately:

1. Find the original account owner

When a user receives a new friend request from someone already on the user's friends list, there is still a chance that a real person created the second account. Before reporting these accounts to Facebook, find out the actual account owner and ask them about the duplicates. 

Open Facebook and use the Search function to find the original Facebook profile that you suspect has been duplicated. 

If an account owner creates a new Facebook profile, they may announce it on their original page. If users don't find such an announcement on their page, select Message and ask them about the second profile directly in Facebook Messenger. 

If they don't know about the second account, tell them about cloning the Facebook account and that someone may be using their personal information without permission. 

Facebook illustration. [Austin Distel/Unsplash]

2. Report hacked accounts

Facebook has an algorithm that allows users to report accounts they consider to be fake. Once the user is sure the account they are viewing is fake, follow the steps below to report the fake account to Facebook:

Open Facebook on desktop. 

Navigate to the account you want to report and open its profile page. 

Select More > Find support or report. 

From the Report menu, select one of the reasons. 

Users can also report hacked accounts to Facebook using the link facebook.com/hacked. Just follow the on-screen instructions to give Facebook an overview of the situation and report suspicious activity. 

That's what users can do if they see a friend's Facebook account has been hacked. 

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