Ever come across a page that seems too good to true, or a supermodel who has only a few followers and you?re wondering why they are famous, or why they are responding to you? Maybe they are famous but under a different name. Over the last year building my Instagram page, I?ve come across a lot of fake people. In the beginning, I was pretty uncertain on how to tell, but then at times I thought to myself, I need to find out on my own. It turns out, there?s a REALLY simple way to figure out if someone is fake or not. Now, this method doesn?t ALWAYS work, but I would say 7/10 times if it?s a fake account, they will be exposed during this test. I?m going to go into detail using a profile I found a while back. I wanted to put this out there because I see so many people falling for fake profiles and being catfished, and to me, it seems super obvious, but to some, they have no idea. With this article, you?re going to be able to use your own judgment to find out for yourself. It?s a free, easy, quick way to find out if the person is real or not.
It?s a pretty big deal these days, I mean look at all the online dating that goes on, or all of the people you talk to on social media who you have never actually met but just automatically believe to be real. You definitely should be safer online so you?re not falling for someone who doesn?t exist, or giving information to someone who isn?t who they say they are.
Here are some key things I learned. Most of the time(not always) these profiles are:
- Private profiles
- Not HIGH-quality images (because they are cropped, or stolen) they may still be decent quality though
- Very very attractive people
- Easily reachable ( makes you think ?why is this person responding to me?)
- Fake names, google them and see what pops up if nothing pops up, well?
Now lets go into the basics of how to react if you think you might be getting catfished:
- Ask to facetime(this is a very simple way to figure it out), if they are fake they will ALWAYS have excuses.
- If they are in your city, try to meet up for coffee early on, before they lure you in.
- Go through their tagged photos & comments ? this can be tricky because I?ve seen accounts go back years, and have other fake accounts comment/tagging them.
- Reverse search their images* (I?ll show how to below)
- Fact checking their bios
People devote their LIVES to these fake profiles, so it can be extremely difficult to find out. That?s why it?s important to facetime, or meet up with them? It?s a very simple way to figure out who it is.
So now, let?s practice. I?m going to use an example of an Instagram account that I noticed was fake by reverse searching the images. This account is still active which is crazy to me, so it?ll be a great account to show.
?Brooke West? @The_bdubs_west @official_bdubswest (This is actually a girl named Leila, I?ll show you how to find out for yourself).
1.) Reverse searching images
This is a super simple process done on google. You will want to use googles reverse image search tool reverse.photos
First, you?re going to want to find a modeling photo and then crop it so it?s just the photo. I would suggest doing 3 that look like their most professional photos because these will pop up in search engines. I?m going to use these 3 below
Once uploaded to the reverse image search tool you?re going to click ?show matches?
And just like that, after the first image I used, I got a hit! I scrolled down a bit and saw this
I found the full image of her cropped image she used. Now let?s click the link, and see what it says and see if we can find a name for the real person.
Okay, so I clicked the middle link and found this after scrolling down a bit
I found the full name and the actual picture ?Brooke west? used. This person just so happens to be a fake profile of Leila Zakomac!
Reverse searching is usually the easiest way to find out, but if they use a not so popular person, it may be pretty difficult. I would still try out the reverse search first.
2.) Googling their name
Now this can be tricky because some names are super common, so you?re never going to figure out much with this. But, other times it?s all you need. In this case I googled ?Brooke West?, and if you do the same you?ll find out this person used a name that just so happens to be a porn star, but if this person was actually this ?big? of a model, googling her name would show all of the pictures she?s posted on Instagram.
3.) Fact checking bio
Guess model, direction USA model, & Wilhelmina model
Okay, let?s go ahead and search ?Brooke west guess model? ?Brooke west directionUSA? ?Brooke west Wilhelmina?, if this was real, her images would pop up or a link to their website would pop up. (Most of the time, especially if you?re that big of a model)
What I?m also going to do is go to their website directly. Here is a link to Wilhelmina Miami. This displays an image along with the name of their models. I don?t see Brooke West anywhere :/
4.) Check their tagged photos
Usually, people tag their friends and stuff on Instagram, so check it out to see. On ?Brookes? Tags, there?s not really a whole lot. Definitely none with friends or family.
Finally
After 4 steps, you usually should find out your answer. If everything checks out, just go ahead and Facetime or grab a coffee.
I?ve searched Lila on google and found many of the photos ?Brooke west? has used.
I hope this helps to expose the fakes! 🙂
If you enjoyed, check out my Instagram below!
www.instagram.com/ibuehrer
www.loganbuehrer.com
