Like many other social networks, Facebook also contains tons of fake profiles unfortunately. Those fake profile holders use Social Engineering tactics to attack innocent people. Facebook has almost 500 Million Users and it is not surprising to have few thousands fake profiles. Below I have mentioned some funny but true tips to check whether a profile is fake or not.

1. Profile Picture. Always be suspicious of profiles featuring photos of professional models. Most of the fake profiles, especially that of females, have only one profile picture and that too a beautiful or sexy (ahem) picture!

2. Many Males. Their friends list will contain males mostly (Well, that’s not their fault, gender issue  ). It could be around 1000s or even more than that.

3. When Did They Joined? Check when she/he joined. If they have lots of friends and have only been on the Facebook a short amount of time, it’s likely to be a fake one.

4. Tag Me! He/she would be tagged in tons of cartoon pictures than his/her own picture.

5. Apps Requests. If he/she is in your friend list, then you will get lotta application or like requests from them. I got many requests like that, some include “Can you send me a chicken?”, “Can you send a buffalo?”.. LOL.

6. Facebook Albums. Most of the fake profiles photos are open to everyone. Well, not a promising tip, but worth it. It may contain lot of pictures but they would not have tags indicating other profiles. They may also contain really tiny photos.

7. Full Filled Profile. If a profile is lengthy and detailed, then you can be sure that it is a real person. Fake Profile creators won’t have time to create long and interesting profiles.

8. Favorite Pages. Most of the fake profiles have less than 20 pages, well almost.

9. Description. Most of the fake profiles have descriptions like “Accept My Farmville Request”, “Add Me In Mafia Wars”, and many more.

10. For Boys : Girls don’t send friend requests to strangers, I mean good girls!  So if, by chance, you get a friend request from girls, don’t confirm it without verifying the details. If you are not a handsome looking guy and you got a friend request from a hot babe. Then you really need to triple check!

11. For Girls : Who said? I support boys too! But some boys usually send friend requests to girls. So it is better to confirm with others and verify. If you are not a hot babe and you got a friend request from a handsome looking guy. Then you should also really need to triple check!

12. Status Updates. Most probably fake profile’s status updates won’t get comments or likes. They may also share fake websites (Phishing attack). (Survey)

13. Celeb Request. If you are added by a celebrity!  Unless you are a celebrity please don’t add!  If they are claiming to be a model or actress or anything like that, then they will surely have professional pictures on their album.

14. Add Feeds. Fake profile’s feeds will contain only friend request adds.

I didn’t say don’t accept any strange friend requests. Trust, but verify!

So if you encounter any fake profiles, I mean if you really encounter, then you can report it to Facebook.

Did you encounter any fake profiles? Please share your experience, and at the same time, share and tweet!

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