Instagram has been rapidly evolving since day one. Instagram was launched back in 2010. Initially, this social media app was used to share pictures as your daily life update in visuals. However, now this app is used for so many things along with sharing pictures. For almost all of us, it’s a platform to keep updated with trends, national and international news, and much more. Not just that, Instagram has also become a business for many people. The app has become so famous that now it’s a big platform to run things such as elections, protests, shopping, donations, and much more.
However, if there is a large community, there will be scams. Just like that, social media has been a victim of fake accounts for so long now. Instagram’s fake account has been used to stalk, play, and scam people. It can be easily done because they are just like any random account. However, there are some indications that can tell you about a fake account. Let’s talk about them.
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Going through fake profiles may give you an idea about them. There are certain things in profile details that can be a used to know if it’s a fake account or not.
Firstly, to confirm if an account is fake or not, carefully go through their page. Check if the username has some weird combination of numbers and letters. That is your first red flag. Then check their bio, if it has vague information then it could also be a fake account. Profile pictures of fake accounts also often seem different. They could use stock images, celebrity photos, or even stolen pictures. You can do a reverse image search to be double sure.
Once you have checked their profile details, now is the time to assess and analyse their activity on Instagram. The first thing you can analyse is their consistency of posting. Fake accounts, generally, have fewer posts and their posting schedule is also very sudden.
If an account has many followers and you wish to see if it is fake or not, then check its user engagement through likes, shares, and comments. If the profile has fake or bot followers, there will be minimal engagement on their posts, the comments will also sound like spam.
Another red flag of a fake account is that their follower-to-following ratio is a bit off. In most cases, such accounts could have a large number of followers but could follow very few accounts. You might have seen that in an authentic account, this ratio is more balanced, in most cases.
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To most people’s surprise, many fake accounts could make their accounts private so that people cannot go through their profiles and become suspicious. Beware of private accounts with very few posts, following, and limited information.
While checking the profile in question, look for certain inconsistencies in the information that the account provides. You can check if the bio, captions, and comments add up. Before clicking on any link in their bio, be very careful as this could turn out to be a way to fraud you. If a page is genuine the link will take you to official websites or reputable sources.
So, this is how you can identify a fake Instagram account. However, if you are still concerned about your privacy, here’s how you can protect your Instagram account.
