The Issues With Fake Accounts

In this entry, we’re going to talk about the issues with fake accounts on social media. If you’re following us, you know that we’ve talked about fake retail web sites. We’ve even touched on a little bit about fake accounts used in scams that don’t appear to be scams. This isn’t to be confused with account takeovers, which we’ve discussed here.

Fake accounts can fall into a few categories.

Spam/scams

These accounts follow the pattern of using stolen or A.I. generated images, creating fake names, and abusing the platform they’re on.

These accounts are designed to dupe people out of money or spam them with whatever junk they’re pushing. Some of these profiles are easy to spot once you start looking at things like the profile picture, and how it’s behaving.

Impostors

Impostor accounts look for ways to mimic, as closely as possible, either a person or a brand.

On the brand side of things, an impostor can pretend to be customer service/support for a brand, or the brand itself. The issues are:

• Tarnishing the goodwill and reputation of the brand. This would come in the form of disinformation and muddying communications.
• People falling for scams/phishing attempts because they believe it’s the legit company they’re talking to.

Catfish

These fake accounts are typically associated with someone looking for a romantic partner, with no intention to pursue something serious, or hide who they really are because it might be difficult for them to tell the truth about themselves for a myriad of reasons. Catfish accounts are also used to swindle people out of money, as seen with romance scams. They can also be used to bully, harass, and threaten their intended targets. These types of accounts could also exist for the purpose of writing negative reviews that are published with malicious intent.

The images of the accounts are typically stolen. With the proliferation of generative A.I. apps, this stuff could also be used to create the fake profiles.

Disinformants

There are fake accounts set up for the sole purpose of spreading disinformation. This stuff affects peoples’ finances and other facets of their lives.

Why you need to be aware of stuff like this

Business

If you’re a business owner, it’s important that you’re taking a look at your organization in the public domain to ensure there aren’t any impostors out there or fake accounts intentionally leaving malicious reviews. Looking for this stuff may be required of you for risk and threat assessments when working towards being complaint with a cybersecurity framework. If you’re buying a business, you’ll want to do your due diligence, as it’s possible you might inherit a problem that could hurt you financially and reputationally.

Check out our business services here to learn about our external cyber risk/threat assessment service.

Attorneys

Attorneys, you might have a case where fake accounts are used. It’s important to look to see if there’s a way to attribute a fake account to the opposing party or even your client. Read more about our litigation support services here.

Personal

Lastly, in your personal life, you need keep your guard up. Scams are plentiful. Other people that you interact with online might have motives to not be their authentic self. You too need to do your due diligence. One way to do that is to level up your knowledge with Bsquared Intel’s Web Digital Literacy course. You can click here to learn more and to purchase the course.

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