Q&A for How to Reveal a Fake Facebook Account

Visit the profile of the fake account. Click on the three dots within a circle on the cover photo. A line will appear that says: Give feedback or report this profile. Click or select this line and follow the on-screen instructions Facebook provides for reporting a fake account.

In some jurisdictions, it would be illegal to make a fake Facebook profile of a real, existing person when you are not that person, as there is a risk of impersonating the other person in a way that might exploit them or harm or damage their reputation. There would be two main exceptions to this: one is where the person has authorized you to act on their behalf (such as a celebrity or politician asking their personal assistant to run the page) or where it is a parody page (and it’s obviously such to anyone reading it). Do be aware that it violates the terms and conditions of Facebook to develop a fake profile. And, any use of a fake profile to harm people, such as for false advertising, luring people to meet you, obtaining money illegally, etc. will usually breach the laws of your country. Speak to a media/communications lawyer in your state or country if you’re unsure about how to proceed within the boundaries of the law.

It is not possible to trace a Facebook IP address without having a judge-ordered legal reason for requiring Facebook to provide this information via its server logs. IP addresses do not show on user’s profiles or on any other of their pages, so it’s not something any user is meant to access. If you interacted with this person outside of Facebook, such as through emails, messaging services, etc., then you could possibly obtain their IP address that way but we’re guessing you are probably wanting to access the IP address of someone you’re not able to contact any other way, so that’s likely to not be helpful. If it’s someone who is causing you problems, block them and contact Facebook via their reporting facility and if you feel threatened, contact the police.

Yes, unfortunately they can.

Keep investigating the page for more info. While most people include photos in their Facebook pages and profiles, not everyone does.

Report the page as fraudulent so Facebook can investigate and deactivate the page.

Probably. Just ignore them! Sometimes it's obvious that it's one person controlling multiple accounts. Usually the profiles pretend to know each other or to be from the same state or city. They may randomly delete or block one another periodically if they feel that anyone is catching on to their game. If something feels off about a person, then trust your instincts and stay away.

If you know them in real life, ask them which one is real. If not, try adding both and see which one's status updates seem more like the person. You could also send messages to one or both of the accounts asking questions only that person would know the answers to. If they don't/can't answer, that's probably the fake account.

If you don't know the person, then yes you can. If it's a relative or friend, and you are not comfortable with this, then politely ask them to take the photograph down.

If you or your father don't know the woman, then it's best to just assume she's a scammer and move on. There's no way you can find out for certain.

The person may have changed the number privacy from 'Everybody' to 'Only Me'. Then, no-one other than the account holder would be able to see their cellphone number. So, unless they have allowed it to be publicly viewable, then no.

Not necessarily. The person could have taken that information from the same website you're looking at in order to make a fake account. I'm not saying that definitely happened, just that you should proceed with caution.

Facebook will show the date when a page was created, but it won't show where exactly the page was created. (That being said, Facebook's admins could see that information if they had to, but outside of a very specific legal issue, there's no reason they'd need to worry about that information.)

You may investigate using clues they left on their account, like maybe checking into a certain area or using their phone to establish the account.

Verified accounts of public figures have a blue checkmark next to them. This way you can tell if they're really a public figure or a scammer.

Talk to them about your concerns with the fake profile. Show them why you think it's fake, and why they should be cautious. Usually, it isn't too difficult to spot a bot on Facebook, but if someone is catfishing your friends, be safe!

There are all kinds of sinister things they could be trying to do. I strongly suggest you don't do it, and it might even be a good idea to report this person to Facebook support.

Ask them to FaceTime with you, or ask them to take a specific photo and send it to you immediately, like a photo of them in a red shirt holding a pencil or something like that.

The report goes to a support team who reviews the complaint and will suspend the account if they determine it to indeed be fake. However, with the vast number of fake accounts and ensuing complaints, it can take quite a while before anything happens (if ever).

No, it would be illegal to try to access that. The only way you could get the location is if Facebook is told by law (a court case for example) that they have to. So, no you can not access their location.