How to report a Fake Instagram Account?

Fake Instagram accounts have been a thing ever since the platform’s launch in 2010. Some are created with the intention of stalking your crush, others however, to carry out fraudulent activities.

Although the former may seem less harmful than the latter, both can be subject to identity theft, which is a crime.

Why is a fake account dangerous?

As mentioned above, identity theft is a crime. When someone creates a fake account to either impersonate an individual or a brand, they are infringing on Instagram’s trademark policy to protect Intellectual Property rights, risking having their account taken down.

However, this isn’t the only thing to worry about when discussing fake Instagram accounts. Fake accounts also are responsible for promo abuse, payment fraud, damaging brand reputation, and more.

‍Types of fake Instagram accounts

In order to know how a fake account can affect your brand, we must first distinguish between the two types of fake Instagram accounts there are:

• Catfish accounts are run by scammers stealing someone’s identity to pretend to be someone they’re not.

• Bot accounts, on the other hand, are run by AI programs on behalf of scammers.

Although they are different in nature, they both aim to trick their victim into sending them money or to steal their personal information. With this data, they can steal your identity and even hack your financial accounts.

How can a fake account affect my business?

With personal accounts, it might be easier to detect the dangers of a fake account. However, fake Instagram accounts can be just as harmful, or even more harmful, when targeting brands and businesses.

Fake accounts that impersonate brands or businesses can be misleading your consumers to visit Rogue Sites and even purchase fake products, without them knowing. As a result, this can take a serious hit towards brand reputation.

On the other hand, when it comes to fake followers, it can seriously harm your engagement. With fake followers, your number of followers will increase, but the number of likes and comments on your posts will most likely stay the same, decreasing your overall engagement.

As a result, this will make your real followers question your brand credibility, as they may think it was the brand itself who purchased the fake bots to increase their number of followers.

‍How to spot a fake Instagram account?

Now that you know the dangers of fake Instagram accounts, we will help you spot one!

• Missing profile information. No name? No profile picture? No posts? An incomplete profile is one of the most important signs when spotting fake instagram accounts. Since most fake accounts are created by AI programs, their main objective is to create as many accounts as possible, not spending extra time on making those fake accounts look believable with posts and stories.
• Irrelevant or generic posts. Another thing to keep an eye out for are accounts with irrelevant or generic posts, such as spam or images downloaded from photo banks.
• Rare follower-to-following ratio. If the account has an absurd amount of followings, yet very little to no followers, this is most likely a fake account.
• Spam posts and DMs. If you only see promotional messaging from an account, whether it is through their posts, comments, or DMs, this is also a red flag to look out for!

Tips for reporting a fake Instagram account

Being aware and detecting a fake Instagram account is key, as most of them can go unnoticed to the untrained eye. Now, how exactly can you report a fake account? We will walk you through this process step by step:

Report the account on Instagram’s Web Form

The most effective way to report a fake Instagram account is by going to this link in your web browser. Then, all you need to do is fill out the form by choosing the best option that relates most to your situation.

Finally, all that’s left is including your personal information, as well as the fake account’s information so that Instagram can take action.

Report the account on Instagram’s App

The app on the other hand is the fastest way to report a fake Instagram account. All you need to do is go to the profile that you suspect is a fake account and report them choosing within the options shown.

Delete the account from your following list

Furthermore, if the fake account is following you, besides reporting them you can simply remove them from your following list. 

How Instagram Trademark Infringement protects its users 

Fake accounts that are created to impersonate individuals or brands are inherently against Instagram’s Trademark policy to protect its users. In this sense, the platform itself follows the relevant Trademark Laws of the country where the account is based, as well as Common Law Trademark Rights.

In addition to Instagram’s role of fighting against trademark infringement, the platform also allows users to report such infringements to protect both consumers and brands. 

At Smart Protection, we work alongside several social media platforms and marketplaces, including Instagram, allowing us to work in unison to eliminate IP infractions within minutes.

Brand Protection entities, such as ours, help companies protect their brand through our Ecommerce Monitoring solutions, with the help of AI and human monitoring. As a result, both brands and consumers can keep peace of mind in terms of the authenticity of the products they purchase.

If you want to protect your brand online and see how we can help, don’t hesitate to Request a Demo!

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