Fake facebook account in my name
Discussion
Hi guys,
I don't have facebook. I'm currently a uni student living in Brighton, from London originally. I dont really keep in touch with anyone from London, but I have a very wide network from uni onwards down here.
I was recently told that there is a facebook profile in my name. I have quite an unusual name (it's actually spelt wrong compared to the usual spelling, and even then its a rare name, with a rare surname). I looked it up and it has the following details;
My home town, down to the specific borough and part of borough in London
My primary school
My secondary school
My university
The profile is friends with several people from my primary and secondary school, none of which I have ever spoken to upon progressing from those places. The URL is my name but with the surname spelt differently; it's spelt as a more common variation of my name. Presumably whoever made the account made the mistake at first and later corrected it. The profile was made in aug 2013, has a post on the 16th, friends added on the 20th, and a later post in feb this year with a simple location update of a random burger outfit in london, of which I've never heard.
Anyway, the profile is clearly meant to represent me. I know nothing about it and nobody who I am currently in contact with knows about it. The profile has none of my university friends or details, or a profile/cover picture.
Now, I can as far as I know report the profile as an impersonation to facebook and potentially get it shut down. However I'd really very much like to find out who has made it. This probably sounds very trivial to most people here, I would think it was to, but it's just very unsettling. I am a very private person and the reason why I dont keep in touch with people pre-uni was because I didnt particularly get on with most people I went to school with. I find it very very unsettling that there is quite a plausible facebook account in my name, linked to people I used to know.
Is there any way I can find out who made it? Or find out an IP address so I can see if it's from London or Brighton? Or do anything to help find out who made it? Ideas would be appreciated. I understand that I haven't given much context for people to start making cluedo guesses as to who in my life did it, it would take an age to detail anything like that. I'd just like to know if theres anything I can do to find out who made it.
I don't have facebook. I'm currently a uni student living in Brighton, from London originally. I dont really keep in touch with anyone from London, but I have a very wide network from uni onwards down here.
I was recently told that there is a facebook profile in my name. I have quite an unusual name (it's actually spelt wrong compared to the usual spelling, and even then its a rare name, with a rare surname). I looked it up and it has the following details;
My home town, down to the specific borough and part of borough in London
My primary school
My secondary school
My university
The profile is friends with several people from my primary and secondary school, none of which I have ever spoken to upon progressing from those places. The URL is my name but with the surname spelt differently; it's spelt as a more common variation of my name. Presumably whoever made the account made the mistake at first and later corrected it. The profile was made in aug 2013, has a post on the 16th, friends added on the 20th, and a later post in feb this year with a simple location update of a random burger outfit in london, of which I've never heard.
Anyway, the profile is clearly meant to represent me. I know nothing about it and nobody who I am currently in contact with knows about it. The profile has none of my university friends or details, or a profile/cover picture.
Now, I can as far as I know report the profile as an impersonation to facebook and potentially get it shut down. However I'd really very much like to find out who has made it. This probably sounds very trivial to most people here, I would think it was to, but it's just very unsettling. I am a very private person and the reason why I dont keep in touch with people pre-uni was because I didnt particularly get on with most people I went to school with. I find it very very unsettling that there is quite a plausible facebook account in my name, linked to people I used to know.
Is there any way I can find out who made it? Or find out an IP address so I can see if it's from London or Brighton? Or do anything to help find out who made it? Ideas would be appreciated. I understand that I haven't given much context for people to start making cluedo guesses as to who in my life did it, it would take an age to detail anything like that. I'd just like to know if theres anything I can do to find out who made it.
Facebook can probably do something about this, but it might not be quick, and you might not find out who did it. I've done a bit of this before; the below sounds a bit creepy, and it is really.
There are certain things you can look at, but it's never an exact science. Is the profile made private at all, or are all the details visible? On a fully open profile the email address used to set it up is viewable by all, but that might not be possible. If the profile is locked down is there are a few different tactics you can use. One of my favourites is to look at the list of friends, and trawl through those to try and find any keys.
My guess from the information you've provided is that it'll be someone who knew you in primary school - a good way to check this is to see whether there are people on the friend list who did not go to the same secondary school as you. That should narrow down the list of people substantially.
Then go with a process of elimination. I think that if the person who set this up was thinking like a normal person, they won't have "friended" themself with this profile - you'd have to be a very creative mind to have a conversation with yourself, and it doesn't sound like the person who has set it up has really used it much so I think we are dealing with someone of at best average intelligence and wit.
Make a list of all the people who went to your primary school with you and then went to the same secondary school, and compare that list to the list of friends on the facebook profile. Who is missing? That should narrow things down a lot.
Once you have a couple of names, google them and find their facebook profiles. Take a look at that and see if there are any clues in the timeline. If the profile is locked down you can still see the list of friends; search all of their timelines too, you'll probably find a few that aren't locked down.
If you are lucky the person who has done this is stupid enough to joke about it with their facebook friends. If you can see the date that the profile was set up, start searching timelines around that date and work forwards.
There are certain things you can look at, but it's never an exact science. Is the profile made private at all, or are all the details visible? On a fully open profile the email address used to set it up is viewable by all, but that might not be possible. If the profile is locked down is there are a few different tactics you can use. One of my favourites is to look at the list of friends, and trawl through those to try and find any keys.
My guess from the information you've provided is that it'll be someone who knew you in primary school - a good way to check this is to see whether there are people on the friend list who did not go to the same secondary school as you. That should narrow down the list of people substantially.
Then go with a process of elimination. I think that if the person who set this up was thinking like a normal person, they won't have "friended" themself with this profile - you'd have to be a very creative mind to have a conversation with yourself, and it doesn't sound like the person who has set it up has really used it much so I think we are dealing with someone of at best average intelligence and wit.
Make a list of all the people who went to your primary school with you and then went to the same secondary school, and compare that list to the list of friends on the facebook profile. Who is missing? That should narrow things down a lot.
Once you have a couple of names, google them and find their facebook profiles. Take a look at that and see if there are any clues in the timeline. If the profile is locked down you can still see the list of friends; search all of their timelines too, you'll probably find a few that aren't locked down.
If you are lucky the person who has done this is stupid enough to joke about it with their facebook friends. If you can see the date that the profile was set up, start searching timelines around that date and work forwards.
Thanks for the well written reply. Unfortunately the email address is hidden, which makes things alot harder.
Nobody who went to my primary school went to my secondary school, nor did anyone from my primary or secondary school go to my university. Everybody on the friends list went to either my primary or secondary school, and as far as I know there arent any particularly close links between them. It's very difficult, and after trying every angle I feel there is little I can do to narrow down who it may be from the information I have. As you say, I feel it's unlikely to be anyone on the list. I feel it's unlikely to be anyone who knows me particularly well as there are some random likes which I don't really know much about or follow, and most of the friends there I was not close to at all. They presumably came up on the "people you may know" upon creation of the profile.
I think the only way forward is using some form of digital method to help source who or where the profile came from, eg IP address or at least finding an email.
It is frustrating and very creepy. This has come from what is basically a past life, and I do not understand who, or why. There aren't really that many people who know all the details that are on there, ie my primary school, my secondary school and my university. People mostly either know the former two or the latter two. However actually trying to work from that list is still very difficult.
Nobody who went to my primary school went to my secondary school, nor did anyone from my primary or secondary school go to my university. Everybody on the friends list went to either my primary or secondary school, and as far as I know there arent any particularly close links between them. It's very difficult, and after trying every angle I feel there is little I can do to narrow down who it may be from the information I have. As you say, I feel it's unlikely to be anyone on the list. I feel it's unlikely to be anyone who knows me particularly well as there are some random likes which I don't really know much about or follow, and most of the friends there I was not close to at all. They presumably came up on the "people you may know" upon creation of the profile.
I think the only way forward is using some form of digital method to help source who or where the profile came from, eg IP address or at least finding an email.
It is frustrating and very creepy. This has come from what is basically a past life, and I do not understand who, or why. There aren't really that many people who know all the details that are on there, ie my primary school, my secondary school and my university. People mostly either know the former two or the latter two. However actually trying to work from that list is still very difficult.
IP address won't help at all; at best it would tell you which ISP they use and even then it would likely be done on a mobile phone. I think that explains the random post actually; it was probably accidental. That might help though. Google can do a reverse image search. It's a long shot, but if you try searching with that image the person who took it may have also uploaded it to their own profile too.
If there is anyone on the list who you do (or could) talk to, they may well be able to see the email address that was used.
If you don't get anywhere, here's what you do to let Facebook know.
https://www.facebook.com/help/167722253287296
If there is anyone on the list who you do (or could) talk to, they may well be able to see the email address that was used.
If you don't get anywhere, here's what you do to let Facebook know.
https://www.facebook.com/help/167722253287296
If you don't have Facebook, how can someone know your home borough, primary, secondary and uni education? (Eta can we rule out primary school folk, since they wouldn't know your uni and vice versa? Secondary school folks could know all three I suppose)
Any family members dislike you...?
Could you get someone you know with Facebook to add "you" as a friend to garner info?
Any family members dislike you...?
Could you get someone you know with Facebook to add "you" as a friend to garner info?
Edited by simoid on Saturday 4th October 01:20
Facebook will have all the details, but getting it out of them will be close to impossible. AFAIK they'd either need a police request (not obvious offences committed), or a court order relating to a civil matter (ie. expensive even if you did manage to make a case).
The other way is 'social engineering' where you could friend them from another account (perhaps a fake one) linking to a page/image on a server where you have access to the log files with the IP address. However that is likely to be just a generic ISP's block, or a mobile network.
Or just send a message asking...
The other way is 'social engineering' where you could friend them from another account (perhaps a fake one) linking to a page/image on a server where you have access to the log files with the IP address. However that is likely to be just a generic ISP's block, or a mobile network.
Or just send a message asking...
Unfortunately I have tried adding and messaging the profile from another (relevant, not a random) account with no luck, the request is pending and the message is unseen.
There are no pictures, just one post showing a restaurant location in february and the original post with a song from Cypress Hill. Whilst I do listen to some rap/hip hop, i hadnt actually heard of cypress hill before now. Whoever made this knows some details about me, but doesnt know me well. Its very odd.
There are no pictures, just one post showing a restaurant location in february and the original post with a song from Cypress Hill. Whilst I do listen to some rap/hip hop, i hadnt actually heard of cypress hill before now. Whoever made this knows some details about me, but doesnt know me well. Its very odd.
Just going from the little information that you've given I would look at it like this. You say the profile has several friends, how many exactly and when was the account created?
Someone was bored, they made an account and added several people as friends then forgot about it. They haven't responded to your friend request or opened the message that you have sent so they're obviously not on there daily, they probably can't even remember the login. It comes across as something that they spent 5 minutes on and then became bored, if you start digging and notifying facebook then they may start receiving emails and start using it to annoy you. Just monitor it, if it become active then start looking into it, otherwise just forget about it.
Someone was bored, they made an account and added several people as friends then forgot about it. They haven't responded to your friend request or opened the message that you have sent so they're obviously not on there daily, they probably can't even remember the login. It comes across as something that they spent 5 minutes on and then became bored, if you start digging and notifying facebook then they may start receiving emails and start using it to annoy you. Just monitor it, if it become active then start looking into it, otherwise just forget about it.
The way to clone a facebook profile is easy..... all accounts are registered with mobile number or email..... both of these can be hidden once the fake accounts enabled by thier admins.... next simply find a photo that`s tagged with a name and then tag urself in that name too!!!! (of course you need to ensure first the name of the account you make matches your intended tag target...) now all you do is simply add all that persons friends to ur new profile after first posting an angry full caps statemnt about facebook lag and the new mozilla updates bugs playing up.... Now copy and save all the albums and profile status updates.... send friend requests to all thier friends automatically facebook search results looking for that profile will show the newer cloned profile as the original one... you now have 48 hrs to create chaos ... Oh and BTW use this sites services for the email..... it`s free servers proxied via about 50 servers ..... no chance of a ripa trace.... http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/index.html it even has a handy facebook friendly link..... and also use a pay as you go sim.... if you need to find out who has cloned your profile though.... cjances are they aren`t very good at it.... or you wouldn`t realise..... go to this place and download the app which suits ur system req... http://angryip.org/ also you can catch them with this app as it will trace the origin of the ip no matter what.... if it`s someone on your LAN using ur router you can check the connection with this app too.... http://www.ip-adress.com/ do not use the version spelled correctly as it doesn`t do the same job unless you pay and being a legit version it obeys the laws regarding user privacy etc.....
If you can`t figure it out private msg me and i`ll see if i can help I`ll need the profile details of the fake though..... hope that helps mate..... BTW facebook admins don`t know s
t about proxied and encrypted links.... also as theyre a commercial company thier servers are auto blocked by most other networks routing..... privacy laws and all that......
If you can`t figure it out private msg me and i`ll see if i can help I`ll need the profile details of the fake though..... hope that helps mate..... BTW facebook admins don`t know s
t about proxied and encrypted links.... also as theyre a commercial company thier servers are auto blocked by most other networks routing..... privacy laws and all that...... Edited by JustinCasey on Friday 24th October 05:03
Creepy that someone has done that. Unfortunately after reading the thread all I can offer is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAlNrtcPCLw
This is going to be on repeat in my office all day now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAlNrtcPCLw
This is going to be on repeat in my office all day now
Have you ever had a girlfriend*?
it's not relevant, I'm just a pervert who likes to think about these sorts of things
Seriously though - any scorned lovers?
* Just noticed you're at Brighton - have you ever had a boyfriend?
I jest, I went to uni in Brighton and have never knowingly done anything "a bit gay"
it's not relevant, I'm just a pervert who likes to think about these sorts of things
Seriously though - any scorned lovers?
* Just noticed you're at Brighton - have you ever had a boyfriend?
I jest, I went to uni in Brighton and have never knowingly done anything "a bit gay"
Any update OP? I'm intrigued by the creepiness of this.
As said above, try and find out who was the first friend the profile made, as this will likely be a close friend of the creator.
I'm still trying to figure out why someone would do this, I presume nothing malicious has been done with the account? It's a little too weird for it to be some drunk laughs by a group of old friends.
Are you in any photos with other people on their facebook? If you are, this could point the suspects to be the other(s) in the photo as they would like to use it as a profile pic to make it look authentic, but using this picture would make it obvious they set it up. (I think i've worded that right, it's late and i'm tired)
As said above, try and find out who was the first friend the profile made, as this will likely be a close friend of the creator.
I'm still trying to figure out why someone would do this, I presume nothing malicious has been done with the account? It's a little too weird for it to be some drunk laughs by a group of old friends.
Are you in any photos with other people on their facebook? If you are, this could point the suspects to be the other(s) in the photo as they would like to use it as a profile pic to make it look authentic, but using this picture would make it obvious they set it up. (I think i've worded that right, it's late and i'm tired)
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