Faking The Fakes Part 3 – Identifying Fake Profiles on Facebook

In the previous article of this series, we told you how to find out if a Facebook page was buying LIKES. We also explained how such fake LIKES destroy the credibility of page.

Security firm Barracuda Networks has explored the menace of fake profiles in a study titled “Facebook: Fake Profiles vs. Real Users.”

What did the study say about the fake profiles on Facebook?

The study analyzed a random sampling of 2,884 active Facebook accounts to identify key differences between average real user accounts and fake accounts created by attackers and spammers.

Results of the studies:

1. Almost 60 percent of fake accounts claim to be bisexual. That is 10 times more than real users.

2. Fake accounts have six times more friends than real users. They may have 726 friends while average real users on Facebook have 130 friends.

3. Fake accounts use photo tags over 100 times more than real users, 136 tags per four photos versus one tag per four photos.

4. Fake accounts almost always (97 percent) claim to be female, as opposed to 40 percent for real users. This would encourage lonely boys to send them friendship requests and enlarge their network of spam receivers.

Read More