How To Identify Fake and Scam Facebook Pages
How many times haven’t you come across a Facebook page bearing the name of a celebrity or big company asking you to do something for a giveaway?
How many times haven’t you heard of people getting scammed on Facebook by impersonators?
The numbers are numerous. But, you probably would still fall victim in such instances. Because you don’t know how to spot a Fake or scam Facebook page.
Perhaps, you think you know just how to spot them. But how much do you know about them?
Well, in this article, we take a quick look at some ways to identify and fish out fake Facebook pages.
Remember, the focus is on Facebook pages and not Facebook accounts or profiles.
What’s a Fake Facebook Page?
A fake Facebook page is usually a page created by scammers or unscrupulous people pretending to be other people or companies on the social media platform.
This is done mostly by scammers or bloggers. The end goal of such pages is either to build trust with unsuspecting people and defraud them of their hard-earned cash in the case of scammers.
On the part of bloggers, they do this to get more followers for the page and then share their blog posts there to reach a wider audience.
Either ways, Facebook’s community rules stand against this.
How To Identify a Fake Facebook Page
There are some few ways to spot and fish out a scam or fake Facebook page. A few of them are explicated below.
Unverified Pages
The first way to spot a fake Facebook page is by checking if the page is verified.
A verified Facebook page carries a blue tick right in front of the page name.
Facebook provides room for big companies and celebrities as well as media organizations to be verified with the blue tick.
Therefore if you see a page bearing the name of a big company or celebrity and has lots of followers without a blue tick, you should think twice when dealing with them.
Note however that, page verification is done manually. You’ll have to apply for your page to be verified.
So, if the page owners are not aware of the verification bit, then their page may not be verified.
To be sure, you can search for pages with the exact name. If you see more than one page with one being verified, there’s a possibility that the rest are fake. Especially if they all have the same logo.
Check for altered names
The next step is for you to take a closer look at the page name to confirm if there’s an alteration.
Mostly, these fake pages are created in the names of known brands or celebrities.
So, to confirm if the page is legitimate, you should take a closer look at the name.
Facebook makes it impossible for a page to bear the exact name of an existing one.
So, if the brand already has an existing legitimate page on Facebook, then the scammers can’t create theirs with the same name.
They’ll therefore usually add some special alterations to change the name of the page.
For example; if the original page’s name is VIRGIN AIRLINE, the fake page may bear the name VIRGN AIRLINE or VIRGIN AIRLINE. or VIRGIN AIRLIN or VIGIN AIRLINE.
Now, these scammers are so smart that they usually change very tiny details about the name so if you don’t take a closer look, you may never know.
And no, don’t worry about checking the profile picture. It is not a strong point. Many pages can have the same profile pic so that won’t help with the differentiation.
Pages asking for donations
one common trait of fake or scam pages is their rampant request for donations.
It’s just logical that a successful man like Alinko Dango wouldn’t be on Facebook asking you to donate to support a charity cause he is undertaking.
It’s not impossible for celebrities to undertake such causes but you’ll have to take a closer look at the request, the details as well as the previous factors listed above.
For example; if you see a call for donation on an officially verified Facebook page belonging to John Dramani Mahama for a noble cause, it’s more likely to be real than if the same thing is posted on a poorly organized Facebook page bearing a similar name.
If it sounds too good to be true, then it really is
The final check on this list is facts and posts on these pages.
If you see anything that sounds abnormal or too good to be true on any of these pages, then it really is fake.
You should employ logical judgements in such cases. For instance, if the page is asking you to send your bank details and contact so that they can send you some amount of money, you ought to think twice.
What have you done to deserve that?
Also, if they’re selling something at an abnormally cheaper rate, you should ask yourself why their price is way cheaper than everyone?
You should also ask yourself why they insist on payment before delivery.
There are so many things these pages post which should raise a red flag for you.
If you observe carefully, you’ll see some of these things and advise yourself appropriately.
Also, check out How To Stop Websites And Apps From Posting On Your Facebook Timeline
Conclusion
Facebook is the world’s leading social media platform with over 2 Billion active monthly users.
Due to the number of people available on the platform, it provides a comfortable breeding ground for scammers and unscrupulous people to ply their trade with ease.
Fake Facebook pages are becoming rampant and they are forming the basis for the majority of the scam activities on the platform.
In this article, we looked at some ways to spot fake Facebook pages.
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