Authored by Josh
Member of Digital Wellness Lab 2023-24 Student Advisory Council
Dear Caregivers, Adults, and Youth,
Social media can be a wonderful platform that helps us build connectivity with our family, friends, and even strangers! We have been able to build community with people we would’ve otherwise never met without social media. Personally, when I was applying to college, I was able to find communities of kids who were struggling with the college application process and we bonded over our shared experience. Now, as a college freshman, some of the individuals I met in those communities are people I talk to everyday, people I have met when they were traveling, and people that are going to my school or a surrounding area school and we plan to meet. While that sounds scary, because they were once strangers online, I got to know these people and made sure I could trust them.
Unfortunately, social media is not all positive. I have had negative experiences where random accounts try to direct message (DM) me asking for money or offer their services to make me rich.
Have you ever had a random or suspicious account try to message you on a social media platform? Have they ever asked you for money or offered their services to you? Has someone you personally know reached out to you randomly asking for a favor? These are all examples of scenarios common with bots, hackers, and scams. Surprisingly, some of these accounts look so real that it is hard to distinguish what accounts are actual people or a fake account.
Fortunately, I have come up with six key ways to identify fake accounts:
- Profile pictures
A profile picture holds a lot of evidence on whether an account is real. Some indicators of a fake profile include sexually explicit images, no face being shown, and/or a heavily edited face photo (no one is perfect). - Links
If there’s a weird or unrecognizable link, do not click on it. Who knows what the link could lead to. It could take your information, hack your account, etc. I repeat: don’t click on it. Oftentimes, these links can look like it’s from Amazon or another social media app. Make sure to look out for extra letters, random numbers, or a font that isn’t normally used. - Posts
One of the biggest red flags is if all the content was posted on the same day or around the same time. While they could be from a new account, most people don’t upload everything at once. More indicators that a post might be from a fake account include heavily edited photos (again, no one is perfect), sexual content, a post asking for something, and a post about making money. With the recent trend of trading stocks and digital currencies, many fake accounts attempt to lure people into talking to them in hopes of hacking them. Lastly, a post that’s in a foreign language is usually another indicator. It wouldn’t make sense for a real person who’s trying to connect with you to have only posts that are not in your native language. - Username
Usernames will usually contain someone’s name or something that is related to a person. However, many fake accounts will have a username that consists of mostly numbers. Also, if a username is simply outlandish, it can be another sign that account isn’t real. - Followers
If an account has an absurd amount of followers or following with an uneven ratio, that is another sign. For example, if an account has 50 followers but has a following of 1,000, that is suspicious.
Also, if you don’t have mutuals, this is a great way to know to steer clear. If no one you know follows them, it can be a sign this account is a bot, hacker, or scam. - DMs
If you receive any DMs or DM requests about money, immediately that’s a red flag. Why would a stranger want to give you money or be asking you for money? Also, if someone is offering you a service or asking for help, it is very suspicious. Oftentimes, these DMs will contain a link for you to click. Never click on these links, as they can be used to hack into your account or get you to provide sensitive information like credit card numbers.
These are all great things to look at to determine if an account is real.Skepticism when something feels off is key to building digital literacy. You may not be able to look at every component depending on whether an account is private or public, but nonetheless, you now have some new skills to look out for fake accounts. Going forward, here are three preventatives that may help filter out fake accounts trying to follow or talk to you.- Keep your account private
By keeping your account private, you can approve of who can and can’t follow you. If someone requests to follow you, this gives you a great opportunity to scout their account if they’re public. - Disable DMs for non-followers
Most social media platforms have settings where you can prevent people who don’t follow you from attempting to message you. This is a great way to avoid hacks and scams. - Don’t “talk to” strangers
Lastly, this one has been hammered into us by all of our caregivers since we were children. While that was for in person interactions, the same applies to the digital world. By completely avoiding talking to people who you have never met in person or have no connection to at all, you can avoid most bots, hackers, and scams.
- Keep your account private
The author of this article is a young person who has been engaging with the Digital Wellness Lab about topics of young people’s safety and wellbeing within digital environments. Here at the Lab, we welcome different viewpoints and perspectives. However, the opinions and ideas expressed here do not necessarily represent the views, research, or recommendations of the Digital Wellness Lab, Boston Children’s Hospital, or affiliates.