How to Avoid Facebook Cloning

Be careful who you add to your Facebook account, because just like you have heard many times before, not everyone on the other end of the screen may be who they say they are. When you get a friend request of someone that may already appear to be on your friend list, the account may be a “cloned” or “imposter” Facebook account.

There are many reasons why someone wants to appear like someone else on the Internet, and the reasons are not good ones. For starters, a cloned Facebook account is where an account is built using another account holder’s publicly available details to appear like the original account. The duplicate, cloned, or imposter account then attempts to add the same friends as the original real account holder. The new imposter account will then try and create familiarity and duplicate other accounts that are associated with the original account.

What is next is that the imposter account is used to gather information, spread scams, or become abusive to the friends on the original account. The friends of the original account may not understand why they are being abused and think it is the real person perpetrating the abuse or scams.

TIER4 Technical Support takes social media security and privacy very seriously. If you believe you are the victim on either end of a cloned Facebook account we are here to help. Our office offers sit down sessions to go over your Facebook questions, privacy, and social media security. On top of the services that our office offers, be sure to use complex passwords that aren’t easy to guess, change your password on a regular basis, don’t re-use passwords between various services, enable two-factor security when available, and always verify who you are adding to your online life.

Need more help? We are here for you.