Inselly » Instagram Tips » How To Tell If An Instagram Account Is Fake

How To Tell If An Instagram Account Is Fake

Same as all the other big social media platforms, Instagram has many big problems, one of the most annoying ones is the amount of fake accounts.

Lots of new accounts are created each day and how to tell if an Instagram account is fake or not is not as easy as it was before.

It is very likely that everyone has come across fake Instagram accounts or fake posts if you use Instagram for a fair amount of time. 

However, since you don’t have adequate knowledge of the topic, you may have not known that a post was fake. 

Why Do Fake Instagram Accounts Exist in the First Place? Instagram Accounts

The most common reason to why do fake Instagram account exists is people only make fake Instagram accounts to increase the total number of followers. Gaining a huge number of followers on Instagram organically is not easy. 

So, people instead just buy fake follower counts which are made through fake Instagram accounts.

This way, they will be able to measure up to their competition in a very short span of time without having to do any of the work that their competitors do. 

And it goes on even further. These fake Instagram accounts go ahead to even create fake posts! In some cases, they make up stories or in some cases, they also pretend to be some that they are not! 

So, from this information, you can conclude the many reasons why someone would want to create fake Instagram accounts.

In some cases, people are also looking to scam other people on Instagram by making them purchase non-existent products. 

Best Ways For How To Tell If An Instagram Account Is Fake

Now that you know and acknowledge the presence of fake Instagram accounts, we are going to be telling you a way in which you can protect yourself against them. 

We have come forward with four tips that will help you identify a fake account instantly. Thanks to these tips, you will be wiser for the next time you use the app. 

Nevertheless, we would like to tell you that there are some cases in which Instagram accounts will show all the signs of it being fake. However, these signs will just be misleading as the account will be 100% real! 

With that being said, it is still vital that we tell you the four tips for recognizing fake Instagram accounts. 

After that, you can use your own mind to make the call. 

For example, you have come across a brand looking to partner up with some of the renowned Instagram influencers. However, you have come across a supposedly fake account based on our four ways. 

The simple approach is that if you think that an account is fake, you will want to skip the account. 

Nevertheless, that’s enough talking. 

Let’s mention the four critical tips for identifying fake Instagram accounts! 

four Instagram

1. Telling If An Instagram Account If Fake By Their Bio! 

Fake Instagram accounts are usually aiming to copy a real account so that they can draw in followers. 

Just for the sake of drawing in followers, they will stoop to use a picture of an attractive person which will usually be undressed a little too much as compared to the normal profile pictures. 

Such fake Instagram accounts owners are hoping that if they use such profile pictures, they will be able to make the profile picture appear striking and many people are going to be drawn in just because of the picture. 

Nevertheless, if you go to their profiles, you will find that you won’t see any pictures of the person you saw in the profile pictures throughout the whole news feed! 

In a lot of cases, people will try to use pictures of renowned models or celebrities. Some people don’t bother putting up a picture! Make no mistake, this way they start to appear even more organic. 

Plus, check out their bio. Their bio will include something unrealistically ridiculous or something that is too good to be true. 

2. Irrelevant Posts – Check Out Their Instagram Feed to Find Fake Posts: 

You must know this important phenomenon that can help you identify a fake account. A fake account is not likely to have a person in their profile picture or any of the posts available on the account. 

Similarly, if they claim to be belonging to a niche or a profession in their bio, you should discover their feed. If their account is fake, you will find that their posts are going to be a lot different from what is written in their bio. 

Such disparities happen to be very easy and simple to track even as a novice. However, if you further want to confirm your suspicions about the account being fake, you should try this thing out. 

You must try figuring out how frequently they are posting at the time frame in which they usually post. 

If someone is making a fake account, they are aiming to achieve their goal as quickly as possible so that they can sell it at its earliest. So, they will often make the account and they will share several posts to make it seem like the account is active. 

You will notice that the posts of such accounts will have very little activity. Moreover, these accounts will usually have posts that happen to be unrelated and in some cases, downright strange. 

3. Apps To Help You Find Out The Fake Accounts

Fake Instagram Accounts

This may come off as a surprise to you, but there are many tools and Instagram apps available that can help you determine whether an account is fake or not!

Such apps were specifically made for the purpose of finding out whether or not an account is real or fake.

You will be able to find these apps usually for free. Even if you don’t get them for free,  you will be able to fetch these apps for a very low price on your phone’s app store. 

These apps are designed in a special way that allows them to spot and mark any fake Instagram account they come across. 

The creators of such apps will use statistics and authentication technology. Using these methods, you will be able to use the technology to determine whether or not the account that you have come across is real or a fake Instagram account. 

Nevertheless, trouble ensues for the business owners that want to grow their business on Instagram!

If you happen to be a business owner and you want to work with an influencer, but you are not sure about the authenticity of the page. 

You can land in some real trouble if you end up trusting a fake influencer account. Having said that, you must utilize such Instagram tools to your advantage. 

These tools happen to be one of the best ways to ensure that the accounts that you are interested in are real. This way, you will shut down all the possibilities of being scammed! 

We’d say that it’s worth it. 

4. Biggest Giveaway – Their Fake followers! 

Since most fake followers transactions are bulk purchases, this is one of the biggest tells of fake Instagram accounts. 

You will see a usually high increase in the following count of the account. For example, a profile is gaining about 30 followers on average for a day. And then one day suddenly, they gained about 5,000 followers

That is a huge tell of fake accounts on your hand. It could be very likely that the owner of this fake account has purchased and instated fake or ghost followers to increase their follower counts.

Moreover, you will also be able to monitor a user’s social media follower count using some tools. We understand that tracking the followers of a page gives you that stalker vibe. 

Let software such as social blade or similar services to help you. Usually in their platforms, all you have to do is type in the name of the account that you suspect.

Once you locate the account, you will see that the data will appear with the increase or decrease in followers that they are having on their accounts. 

You can use the such services to identify fake accounts on other apps such as Twitter, YouTube, and twitch. 

However, we must also tell you that this app treats every account with the same stick.

So you will want to make sure and do all the due diligence before you jump to any conclusions to avoid making any wrong calls. 

Final Words!

Whatever the reasons are for making fake Instagram accounts or even fake posts/stories, it’s important to accept their presence on social media. 

While we are not going to be covering any information as to why some people feel the need to scam innocent people on Instagram.

Instead, we have given this guide to you so that you can connect all the dots and figure out whether an account is fake or not. 

These tips will help you figure out fake Instagram accounts and posts as soon as you come across one! 

Related Articles

Author : Alexis

I'm a US born marketer and world-wide based social media expert, extreme sports fanatic, and street wear aficionado. Influencer by day and all-time dreamer.