How to spot a scammer

Thursday 11 October 2018

I have been asked today how I go about looking at a profile on Instagram and deciding whether it is real or genuine.

My first rule of thumb is that I always start off with the cynical standpoint of not believing anyone who messages me on Instagram at all and especially the men.

My second rule is that if it is a military man contacting me, whether the person says he is based stateside or deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, the Yemen, Nigeria or anywhere else I always assume the person is a fake.

My third rule is that if it is a doctor contacting me whether they are working in a hospital somewhere or they too are deployed peacekeeping as a doctor, I assume the person is a fake.

I make these assumptions immediately without checking any other information and I think that it is up to the man messaging me to prove they are real.  If the person will not video call, makes the call but cannot be seen or tries to fake the video call in some way then I know the person is a fake.

However, there are times when I have to take a closer look at a person's profile page on Instagram before deciding.

The first thing I look for is the  user name on Instagram and what they say their real name is.  If they don't match I become suspicious.  This matches but makes me wonder because it is a strange name I haven't heard of before and doesn't suggest a foreign name to me.

The next thing I look for is the profile picture in the circle.  Is there a photo?  Here there is and it does match the person in the posts further down (both circled).  If there is no photo in the top left circle I always wonder why and assume it is a fake account. If the profile picture doesn't match images of the person in the photos they post then I assume it is a fake account and report and block.

I always look at the numbers of posts a person has made.  If there are no posts but a lot of followers and a lot of people being followed I assume it is a fake account and report and block.  If there is profile picture, no posts and a lot of followers and a high number of people being followed then I assume it is a fake account and report and block.  

I then look at the posts themselves.  I check when the first post appeared and the time frame of all postings.  Generally a lot of posts added altogether tends to be a fake.  I look at the type  of posts being made. If there are minimal personal photos but lots of memes, quotes, insipid flowers, romantic posts I assume it is a fake account and report and block.  If you have time, go and read the comments under the photos.  The faker may have put wrong information about the picture, they may have badly cropped the photo so you can see it is from an other Instagram account, they may have done a repost and the original poster's user name is there, they may have left a watermark on the photo so you can see who the original person is and that this account is fake.  Read comments left under the posts if you can because I have seen ones where women say they person is fake or the scammer's use of English lets him down and you can see that it is fake.

As I said before I check the numbers at the top right of the profile page. I look at the followers of the person - there can be clues here.  A lot of African followers?  Its a fake.  I look at the people the user is following and if they seem to be all women of a certain age and type then  I assume it is a fake account and report and block.

I always read the biography written by the person.  If it is written badly, has poor grammar, poor punctuation, poor spelling then it is probably a fake account. Here my assumption is that is fake.  Read the biography out loud and you will hear the mistakes and it will sound more clear.

MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL IS THAT IF YOU ARE AT ALL UNSURE GET THE ACCOUNT REPORTED TO INSTAGRAM AND BLOCK THEM, DON'T ENGAGE IN CONVERSATION WITH THEM.