Receiving a suspicious Facebook friend request is an all-too-common experience. Many of these fake accounts look surprisingly real, often using photos of less-famous models or actors to build a convincing profile.
These profiles aren’t just harmless; they are frequently created to run scams, spread misinformation, or “catfish” unsuspecting users. So, how can you tell a genuine person from a fake one?
To help you, we’ve created a simple 7-step checklist to quickly check if a Facebook profile is fake or original. These will also help you spot fake profiles on Twitter, Instagram, and other social sites.
We’ll show you exactly what to look for, from analyzing their photos (using Google Lens) to checking their friend list.
Table of Contents
What is a Facebook fake account?
An account created by a person by not using their original name and claiming to be a genuine person. These profiles are created to scam people and especially in money scams.
How to Identify Fake Facebook Account Checklist – 7 Step checklist
1. Check the name
Judging a profile from the name is kind of challenging, but we can’t overlook it. Some common names often used by the person who creates a fake Facebook profile. Still there are some common names are Angel Priya, Angel Priya Singh Miller, Smith, and Brown.
These are the names of fake profiles I had an encounter with. Although it is not compulsory that the profiles with these names are fake, they might be real. However, if you get a request from these names’ Facebook profiles, then it is recommended to take extra precautions.
2. Check the profile URL
Facebook allows you to set a custom Facebook profile link which you can use to make it more memorable. There is a limitation that you can change your Facebook profile URL a limited times only. So you can match the name in the Facebook profile with the profile link. If the person who had created a fake Facebook ID with a name and later on if he changes the name, there is a chance that the person forgot to change the profile URL. Matching can help you spot fake Facebook Accounts. Below is the reference of Different names in URL and profile
3. Analyze the Profile Photo and cover photos
The first thing one checks at the moment he/she gets a friend request is the profile photo of the account. No profile photo increases the chance of being a Fake profile photo. Even check which cover photo that Facebook profile had. Actress or model photos as a Facebook profile is a red signal as it 2025 where everyone accessing the internet is sharing their photos. Still, it is a personal preference whether to share his/her photos online or not.
Sometimes, rather than setting up images of famous actors or actresses, people use images of models who are not that famous. These model photos look so promising that identifying those profiles is a bit hard. While talking to that person, if he claims that the photos uploaded to the Facebook profile are real photos and not of any other actress or actor, then you can verify it.
There is a trick to search for photos over Google by uploading them using Google Image Search. Google will take uploaded photos and search for similar photos over the internet. We can verify profile pictures on the basis of Google image search results. So let us dive into the steps to identify fake Facebook pictures.
4. Review their shared posts
The post you share shows a part of your personality so it can consider which type of post you share to judge whether the profile is genuine or not. Before you accept the person’s friend request, check the maximum post that the profile shares. If the persons share some articles from another website, then check whether all the shared posts are from the same website. Sharing of low-quality and ad-heavy websites are commonly seen in Facebook fake accounts. The goal of creating a Fake Facebook profile is to share a low-quality website that had tons of ads. As these websites don’t provide values, they won’t rank on Google; hence, to get traffic on the website, they share on Facebook through these profiles and earn money through pop-up ads.
If more than 2 article of the same website or blog is shared then do check the owner of the website. Maybe he is the author of that blog post and he is sharing the article. You can cross-check the Facebook profile name and blog author name. You can get more details from the author box of that blog post.
5. Examine the shared comments and interaction on photos and post
Another clue to get if Facebook account is fake or not is to check Comments on photos and post. Random comments or irrelevant comments on Facebook photos and post and to which, profile owner had not responded is itself a red signal. The original owner will surely reply to the comments on the post and also deletes irreverent comments from the profile.
Lack of interaction with Facebook friends and lack of relevant comments on the posted image and post also gives you a clue. A real person do talk with the person who comments on their post.
6. Analyze the Number of Friends and Mutual Friends
As you receive and Friend request on Facebook prior to click on Add as a friend do check the profile friend list. If the person had added Facebook friends from all over the world and the majority of the friends are from different countries than the person’s place of living, then the person is might fishy. Even the number of friends to be considered. Check the number of friends the Facebook profile has.
Another thing that you can check is Mutual Friends. If the person who had sent a friend request on Facebook has no mutual friend than an additional check is required as this person is most likely to be fake. If there are some mutual friends between you and the person that tries to talk to that mutual friend and check whether he/she is genuine or not.
7. Be wary of the Conversation
This is the most important point to check if the person is genuine or not. Talking style of real person it bit different compare to the scammer. A scammer will try to rush things, create a sense of urgency, or build intense emotion quickly.
Be on high alert and consider the profile fake if the person does any of the following:
Asks for Money (The #1 Red Flag): If the person ask you for money for any reason and the common tactics is sudden medical emergency, a car problem then the person is scamer. They often request payment via gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency because those methods are untraceable.
Creates a Sense of Urgency: If they pressure you to act fast by asking you to claim a “prize,” invest in a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity then you should be alert.
Asks to Install an App: Installin third part apps can give them the access of your device so if they insist you need to install a “chat app,” a game or any other app then be aware of them.
Sends Suspicious Links: another way to have acccess of your device is by sening a link. If the person send links with urgent or shocking messages like, “Is this you in this video?” or “Look who died.” These are phishing attempts to hack your account
These are checklists for Identifying fake Facebook profiles. Make sure you don’t add people you don’t know in real life, as adding an unknown person on can also compromise your Facebook account and lead to a hacked one. Now, what should we do after knowing a fake ID? We should report a fake Facebook account.
Note :
Make sure you don’t add people you don’t know in real life, as adding an unknown person on Facebook can also compromise your Facebook account and lead to a hacked account.
How to Use the Google Image Search to check for Fake Profile Pictures
To show you guys How to Check for FAKE PROFILE PICTURES We had taken a Facebook profile. If you look at the profile picture, it will look promising, but we will use Google Image Search and test it. If you have doubts about any Facebook friend and want to identify a person in the photo, follow the steps below.
Step 1 : Let us take this fake Facebook account. Here, I took this account under the name Pooja Singh.
Step 2: Open the account and download the profile. If the user locks the Facebook profile picture, you can take a screenshot of it.
Step 3 : To Download His Picture Click On The Image And Then “Save as” and Then Save It On Desktop.
Step 4: The next Thing You Have To Do is open images.google.com in your browser and click on the Camera Sign-in Search Bar, as you can see in the Image Below.
Step 5 : After that, A Small Bar will Open. Select “Upload an image”. Then Browse The Downloaded Image. And Upload that Image in Google image search.
Step 6 : After That, google will provide you a search result of that image. The search result comprises all the pages that consist of uploaded images over the internet.
Step 7 : From the Google image search result, you can see that this is not her real photo. In fact, this is a photo of a model named Roopal Tyagi. Hence, from this, we can determine fake Facebook DP. The person who claims this phots of her is also a fake person. This is the easiest way i.e. Reverse Image Search to Find Out Someone’s Name From a Picture.
Now, what should we do after knowing a fake ID? We should report a fake Facebook account.
How do I report a fake Facebook account?
Step 1 : Go to the profile of the fake account.
Step 2 : Click […] under the cover photo and select Find Support or Report Profile.
Step 3 : A new window will popup consisting of several options. Select the appropriate option and click on Next.
Step 4 : You will get confirmation that you had successfully reported fake Facebook account which will look like If you think that this goes against our Community Standards, please also report it. Please note we have fewer reviewers available right now.
Step 5 : You can take additional steps as either you can block Facebook profile or Hide all from (person name) which will hide all posts posted by that person.
Step 6 : You can select a Report profile to submit to Facebook for review and tick I believe that this goes against Facebook’s Community Standards.
FAQ (Facebook fake accounts)
1. What happens when you report a Facebook account as fake?
As you report a Fake Facebook profile, they review that account activity, and if they find that the person is violating Facebook, they may also delete the Facebook account if a number of people report that Facebook account as fake.
2. How many reports are needed to close Facebook fake accounts?
Approx 10 reports are needed to close a fake Facebook account. However, this is not always true with every profile.
3. Can a person find out who reported them on Facebook?
No. There is no need to worry, as Facebook doesn’t reveal the name of the person who reports that person.
Wrapping Up
This checklist will be helpful for you to spot determine whether the Facebook profile is genuine or fake. If you are a teenager, then there is a higher chance of getting trapped with fake identities on Facebook, so in that case, this checklist will be helpful
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