Why Identifying Fake Facebook Accounts Matters

From too good to be true monthly rent for an apartment, to A.I. slop pages, to catfish/romance scams, to disinformation, and so munch more, social media has landmines you need to avoid. This is why identifying fake Facebook accounts matters (or any social media platform).

We’ve written about Facebook multiple times which you can find here, here, and here. Some of these articles walk you though things to look for. And even when Facebook is continuously redesigning things, everything we talked about in those articles, and what we’re talking about today, is all about verification. This means looking at the account holder and what they publish in order to discern if the person/entity is real or not.

Fake profiles aren’t just spam or scams anymore. They have have consequences across personal, social, and legal realms.

In this article, we’re going to talk about scams, disinformation, and legal implications of fake accounts. As Facebook, and other platforms evolve, uncovering fake accounts matter more than ever.

How Scammers Use Fake Facebook Accounts to Deceive

The FBI’s 2024 Internet Crime Report showed that people aged 60+ filed over 7000 criminal complaints in the category of Confidence/Romance scams. These people lost over $380 million to these ruses. [Source: FBI]

While the FBI report doesn’t break down romance scams further to include how it happened, it’s plausible to say that social media was a vehicle used to dupe people out of money.

We’ve seen it first hand with clients where an unknown person slid into their DMs and due diligence wasn’t thoroughly done. One thing lead to another and this unknown person was attempting to extort the client. This falls more under the category of sextortion than your typical romance scam.

With romance scams you are usually talking to someone who has a profession that allows them to travel. So, if you come across a person who claims to be a doctor with Doctors Without Boarders, or a model, or a contractor, or someone who’s in the military that’s stationed somewhere else in the world, these are red flags. This is where you need to start picking apart the person’s profile. Even if it isn’t scammy, if you’re looking for love on Facebook, uncovering fake accounts help to weed out catfish.

The same goes with buying something on Facebook Marketplace. To prevent yourself from getting scammed, one of the things you should do is take a look at the profile for any red flags.

To add more complexity to scams, and other things we’re touching upon in this article, is the use of Artificial Intelligence.

Deepfake videos, generative A.I. images, and bots add another layer of stuff you have to dig through to see if it’s legit or not. This Wired article is a good starting point to understand these issues, which you can read here.

With any scam, if it’s framed the right way anyone is susceptible. This is because they rely on social engineering in order to get you act on an emotional level rather than logically.

Another thing that relies on social engineering is disinformation.

Disinformation: When Fake Accounts Shape What We Believe

Defined as the deliberate creation of false information intended to mislead or confuse, disinformation can sometimes lead to real-world harm that has physical consequences. While it’s often associated with politics, its reach extends far beyond, influencing areas like health, business, and the legal system.

For instance, a 2025 Financial Times investigation revealed how fake accounts, some powered by AI, have been used in targeted harassment campaigns against women in leadership roles. These accounts coordinated efforts across platforms like Facebook and TikTok, using deepfakes, altered images, and false narratives to intimidate, defame, and silence their victims.

Disinformation can also impact consumer trust. In early 2025, AP News reported a surge in AI-generated fake reviews on social media and e-commerce platforms. These reviews were both deliberately positive and negative. They were often posted by fake or automated accounts, making it difficult to discern which are real and which are synthesized.

The technology behind these accounts is evolving quickly. Many use realistic, AI-generated profile photos and mimic human-like posting behavior, making them hard to distinguish from real users. Once these accounts gain credibility, they’re able to influence public conversations, damage reputations, or spread misleading claims with great effectiveness.

Disinformation doesn’t just create confusion; it erodes trust. And as fake accounts become more sophisticated, recognizing inauthentic behavior online is critical for you, your business/employer, or law firm.

Speaking of law firms, let’s move to the last section we want to talk about regarding fake Facebook accounts (or any other social media platform).

Social Media Verification in Legal Cases

When it comes to helping out law firms in legal cases, verification is the first step we take when looking at a Facebook page, or any other social media platform.

Verification is important because you want to make sure you’re looking at an authentic account. If the account is fake, going through the verification process helps you identify artifacts about the target Facebook profile that don’t add up. This allows you to include your observations in your reporting, good and bad, that give a more complete picture of what you saw. This applies to social media platform or website.

Being able to prove a social media post came from someone is key when your case moves to the online world.

Fake social media accounts are unfortunately used as ways to harass and threaten others online. Verification for fake accounts is challenging from an OSINT (Open Source Intelligence)/SOCMINT (Social Media Intelligence) perspective. If you know where to look, there are opportunities to get a toehold that can reveal useful information. That information just may lead you to evidence that supports your law firm’s case.

You might find fake social media profiles as evidence in the following types of cases:

• Online harassment and defamation
• Business disputes
• Brand impersonation

It’s not only verifying and authenticating accounts on Facebook, or elsewhere, it’s also about properly collecting and preserving the posts themselves.

To sum up this section, authenticating and verifying online accounts (fake or legit) is a critical step in modern legal and forensic investigations.

Conclusion

Fake accounts pose a danger to anyone. They affect personal safety, public discourse, and legal outcomes. Some of these accounts also use sophisticated ways to deceive others, so it’s important to identify these methods to educate those that need to know.

Here are some things you can do:

• Check out the articles we linked in the second paragraph to learn about ways to identify fake Facebook accounts. The writings also apply to other social media platforms.
• Signup for our newsletter. You’ll get tips, tricks, tools, news, in-depth articles and more. Use this link: https://bsquaredintel.com/newsletter-signup/
• Need help with a personal, business, or legal matter involving fake social media accounts? Use to the contact form below to reach out and schedule a free strategy call.