MSCCN Blog

Be on the Lookout for Fake Online Accounts

3/6/2020

As we consider how far technology has come, now, more than ever, we must pay close attention to our online accounts.

Social media has made an impact on many of our lives and, as that impact increases, so does the need to be aware of the possible dangers posed by fake accounts.

That's right, fake accounts are everywhere and virtually anyone can create one. Specifically, when it pertains to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Unfortunately, people have easy access to creating a fake online profile which, essentially, can cause harm to you or your workplace. We must be aware of these frauds.

Luckily, there are certain steps we can take to protect ourselves and organizations.

One: we must NOT accept people who appear to have fake accounts under any circumstance.
Two: we must REPORT them to the appropriate social media channels.

Luckily, it's easy to report someone. Take a look at this LinkedIn profile:

Clearly, it's fake.
Some of the obvious ‘red flags’ are:

He says he’s a Canadian soldier but doesn’t know how to spell “Canadian”
He also indicates he’s from Ghana
The work reference is suspect
The profile is incomplete
He has very limited connections; typically, a genuine profile will have a good mix of people.

Use these same clues for all social media channels. Personally, I like to go with my gut. That rarely steers me wrong.

Okay, so now we know what to keep an eye out for; how do we report suspect profiles?

As I mentioned earlier, it’s very easy.

For LinkedIn, Bianca, Human Resources Manager at Military Spouse Corporate Career Network, has kindly given permission to use her profile as an example.

To report her profile, simply click the box that reads ‘more’, then Report/Block

Similarly, with Facebook. Look at Bianca’s profile. Click ‘…’ next to ‘message’, click 'find support' or 'report profile' and a page will prompt you to select an option that best fits what you are trying to do. In the case of the fake profile above, you would select ‘fake name.’ This will alert Facebook immediately and they will be notified that something is wrong.