Can you see the red flags? 🚩🚩🚩

Yesterday I was sent a fake account by one of my followers.  They really are fabulous people on Instagram and they send me all kinds of fake accounts.  This one is just perfect to illustrate some of the things my last couple of blog posts I have published here have been about.

There were lots of red flags waving when I first saw this fake account.

🚩The circular profile picture is Dr Fernando Gomes Pinto

🚩The picture in the first and only post is not the same man - it's a guy called Robert Schmalohr (another man scammers use quite a lot)

🚩The user name does not appear to go with either man - it looks African/Middle Eastern to me

🚩There is only one post on the account and, although you can't see it here, the first post was only an hour old when I saw the account

I hope you can also see the red flags when you look at this account. Once you start looking for red flags like these on Instagram accounts you will see lots and being able to see the red flags will stop you from becoming a victim of a romance scammer.

Instagram basics

One of the questions I am regularly asked on Instagram is how to stop so many scammers.  That's a huge question with a massive answer but the simple one is to shield yourself from them as best as you can.  Now you are going to ask me how you can shield yourself from getting approached all the time.  

My first piece of advice is to make sure that your Instagram account is set to private.  As I showed in my previous post, making your Instagram profile private means that your posts and stories are not shown to everyone.  All that is visible is your username, your profile picture, and your biography.  If someone would like to follow you they have to send you a request.  They do so by clicking the follow button and you see in your heart feed who wants to follow you. From this point on you have complete control over who follows you and who doesn't. My advice is to not accept a follow request from any account that you don't know. All you have to do is decline their request and that's it, they can't follow you. The same is true when someone sends you a direct message.  You access your direct messages from the home page - the arrow in the top right.  An account that messages you cannot do so easily.  They send a message to you but you have to accept it or decline it when your account is private.  If your account is public anyone can message you.  You access your direct messages from the arrow.  Click the arrow in the top right of your home page.  You will see a message request.  Click this and it will show the profile picture and the message sent.  Don't accept it if you don't want to.  I regularly just decline messages as I know they are from fake accounts or are scams.

Now I am going to show you other little checks you can do when a strange account requests to follow you.  I am going to use my Instagram account profile page again to help me.  

1.  I don't accept any followers or messages from anyone that doesn't have a proper picture for a profile image.

2. I check the username.  Does it go with the picture? Does it match the name given in position 6?  I've had scammers using accounts with female usernames with a male image and a male name on the account.  I've had usernames that are clearly an African/Indian/Middle Eastern/Asian name with a picture of a man or woman that is not that nationality and with a name under the image that does not match.  If any of these are the case I don't accept the follow or message.

3.  Check the number of posts made. Then look at some of the posts.  When were they posted? When was the first post added?  What kinds of posts are being added?  You can see when a post was made so if it is just minutes or hours old or even a few days with only a small number of posts added then a red flag is waving for me.  

Look at the type of posts being made.  Memes, sayings, quotes, schmaltzy romantic stuff waves another red flag.

Check for stolen photos as some leave the Instagram icons on and don't crop them off properly - another red flag. They even leave on the real person's watermarks like their username - an instant report and block for me if I see this.

4.  Check the number following them - the smaller the number, a male with a lot of female followers or a female with lots of male followers yet it's a new account then that is a red flag straight away.  

5.  Check who they are following.   If it's a man and they are following a lot of women that look to be a similar profile to you then there's a red flag waving.

Often they have few followers yet they may well be following a big number of people - another red flag for me.

6.  Check the posts they are tagged in at position 12.  I've seen scammers tagged in to their Nigerian friends' posts.  Huge red flag waving.

7.  Search for other users with a similar name.  Eg you have a request from a frankwilliams20201 (made up username).  Search Frank Williams to see how many others there are who are using the same images - there usually are some.  If this is the case then it's a red flag.

8.  Read their biography at position 6.  Does it make sense?  Are there a lot of spelling mistakes?  Some make such glaring errors that show them up as scammers immediately.  

9.  Within their biography, you will often find a web address included as a link.  Do not click the link.  These usually don't work, sometimes they do, but they could be adding malware or spying software onto your device so they can find your bank details, your passwords, etc making you extremely at risk of fraud and theft.

These are just a few basic ways I check out any profile that wants to follow me or send a message, either on my Instascammers profile or my personal one. I get a red flag then I report and block them and I certainly do not let them follow me or send me a message.

 

Parts of an Instagram profile.

Today I am going to show you around a profile page on Instagram and tell you what each part means.  Before I do that though I need to discuss the difference between a public and a private profile.  

A public profile is an account on Instagram that can be seen by anyone and everyone.  All posts and stories are visible at all times to any Instagram user.  Your posts will also show up occasionally in the search feed too.

A private profile is one where your username, profile picture, and any biography added will be visible to all Instagram users.  They will not be able to see your posts and stories, however.  There will be a blue button on the screen saying 'follow' which you click and a follow request is sent to the user. They will get a notification of your request which they can either accept or deny. If they accept you will be able to see their full profile and if they deny it you won't be able to follow them at all.

 

This is a screenshot showing you a private Instagram profile.  I have hidden the profile picture, username, and name of the person as, after all, they are private.  But you can clearly see the blue follow button.

This is my Instascammers Instagram account which I have taken a screenshot of and edited a little to help here.

1.  The circular picture is a profile picture.  I have chosen a saying here which I think is appropriate to my account and it's purpose.  I don't have a picture of me here as I don't want scammers to connect this account to my personal Instagram account.

2.  This is my username.  The three dots (or lines) near it can be clicked and you can see another menu from which you can report and block accounts or share profiles as a message.  This is how I like to have fake accounts sent to me.  You can also see that my account is not verified because it doesn't have the tick at the end of my username.  Please see the picture below for more information.

3.  This tells you how many posts I have made on Instagram.

4.  This is how many accounts are following me on Instagram.

5.  This number is how many accounts I am following on Instagram -  I choose to follow a very few and I don't follow any of the real men.

6.  This is the place to add your name and a bit about yourself ie your biography.  I've also added the web address to this blog.

7.  My account is a public account and you can just click the follow button to see my posts on Instagram and my stories.

8.  The message button enables you to send me a direct message which I can access from the home button and then the top right arrow on the screen.

9.  This drop-down menu shows you other accounts that are similar to mine that you may also like to follow on Instagram.

10.  The circles in this row are the different stories I've added that I've chosen to make permanent.  These can be accessed and viewed by anyone as I am public.  If I had a private account they can only be seen by followers I have agreed to let follow me.

11.  The grid is where you can access my posts on my feed.  The first one in the top left is my most recent post.  My earliest post on this account is the very last post shown on the feed (I don't recommend you search for it because I do have over 13.7 thousand posts on my profile now).

12. This person in a tag is where you can see posts that your username has been tagged into.  Swipe left or click the tag to see them.

13. The squares that you see on the profile here in position 13 are my posts.

14. The house icon is the home screen.  You click this to get back to your feed which is where you can access the posts of the accounts that you follow on Instagram and any new stories added by those that you follow and your own stories.

15.  The magnifying glass icon can be clicked and it will take you to the search page.  Here you can look for a user or a specific hashtag.  A hashtag on the internet is used as a way of rounding up all posts that it appears in.  So I use hashtags for the real names of the guys plus the word fake eg #drfernandogomespintofake. The # would highlight in blue and can be clicked.  This then takes you to a separate page with all posts with the #drfernandogomespintofake hashtag on Instagram.  I do this to keep the accounts all together and give you a way of seeing just how many fakes are made using the pictures.

16.  The + button is the one you click to add a new post onto your Instagram profile.

17.  The heart is the icon to click to see all the interactions on your profile.  When someone tags you when someone likes a post, when someone comments on a post you have made, or when someone follows you or sends a follow request you will receive a notification here in this feed.  You will be able to see the previous 99 interactions only. Tagging someone in means you type @ plus their username eg @insta_scammers2020 it will turn blue and you can click it and it will take you to their profile. The person will receive a notification too as I have said.  This is why I d not like it when followers tag in the fake profile.  They can see this tag and then go and report me to Instagram which means I could have my account disabled or even removed.

18.  This is a small picture of your profile image.  I have disguised this one because I don't want my identity shown as I took the screenshot from my personal Instagram account.  You can click on the small image and it will take you to your profile page as shown in the screenshot above.  From your profile page, you can add posts, search, check your heart feed, change your settings, and so on.  You click the 3 lines or dots in the corner to reveal a menu to change settings, add information, and more besides.  Click them on yours to see just what you can do.

This is the account of Dr Fernando Gomes Pinto.  I have added it here because you can clearly see the blue burst shape with a tick in it.  This is the only verification mark that Instagram uses.  Do not believe an account that says they are verified and do not have this mark next to their username.  It is not shown anywhere else other than after their username on a profile page and in a search.

I do hope this walk around an Instagram profile has helped you just a little.  My next post will be how this knowledge can help you decide whether a profile looks fake or not.

Oops I did it again!!

I definitely started this year off with very good intentions at updating this blog regularly - perhaps not daily but certainly a couple of times a week or so.  Well we are now at the back end of July (how in the heck did that happen???) and I am appalled to say that I haven't added a post since January.

When I first started this blog a couple of years or so ago I really was quite naive.  I genuinely had little idea of just how big an issue this romance scamming is on Instagram and other platforms online.  Two years on and I am older and a lot more savvy about the issues and the reach this has with women and men around the world.  My idea was to update about fake scamming accounts on Instagram and that still really is the case but I think my focus needs to shift a little.  Rather than showing you accounts that are fake I think I am going to continue to zone in on the real people that are being used by the scammers.  I shall also explain a little more about how the fakes will try to groom you and the scams they use to make you willingly part with your money.

I suspect we would all like to see an end to this type of scamming.  But, truthfully, it is never going to happen is it?  Human beings of all races, genders, nationalities will trick a fellow human. I guess it's been going on since time immemorial under the guise of survival of the fittest.  These days it happens online.  I think what I am trying to say is that we are never going to be able to stop people scamming other people but we can prevent it happening to us and our loved ones.  We need to take responsibility for our actions online and keep ourselves as safe there as we do in the real world. Taking a few moments of time to make sure that you are safe online is all it entails.  Do a little research, learn to use reverse image search, find sites like this one which will help you.  Education is the way forward, the way to stop us sending money to them.  Be cynical, be skeptical and don't believe what a handsome stranger says via a message online.  Start from a viewpoint of 'What does he/she want with me?'  You won't go too far wrong and you will soon learn to spot the red flags waving at you. And I hope to help you recognise those red flags.  

Dr Cem Karas

Another Turkish doctor that gets used such a lot by scammers to create fake online accounts is Dr Cem Karas.  He is based in Izmir, Turkey and is an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist  He is another happily married man with children who is not looking for romance with anyone online.  If you are being messaged by anyone online that issuing hs images then you are being messaged by a scammer with a fake account.

When I post fake accounts using this man's images on Instagram, I use the hashtag #drcemkarasfake

Dr Luis Eduardo Oliveira

This is a doctor that has had his images stolen so many times that the scammers have made the real man remove himself from all social media platforms.  I can totally understand why he has done this but isn't it a shame that he no longer has a presence on Instagram and doesn't feel able to share anymore because of the scammers stealing and using images to steal from people around the world?  He is a Brazilian doctor from Rio de Janeiro.

If you are messaged online by someone using this man's images then you know you are being messaged by scammers.  He is not using Instagram or any other social media platform and is definitely not messaging anyone looking for love online.  It is just a scammer wanting you to willingly send your money to them so they don't have to work.

On Instagram when I post fake accounts using this doctor's images I use the hashtag #luiseduardooliveirafake

Dr Mike Varshavski

Here is another famous American doctor who has appeared on TV programmes and has his own You Tube channel - Dr Mike Varshavski.  He is a very popular face for scammers to steal and use to front their fake online accounts.

Follow this link here for his You Tube channel.  Specifically follow this link here to see a video on You Tube by Dr Mike about being catfished and the scamming that occurs with his images.  Just to reiterate here what he says - he has one account on each social media platform ie Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  He is not on dating apps, he is not looking for romance and he is in a relationship.