How to spot and avoid falling prey to imposter social media pages
A study estimates that 4.76 billion people around the world use social media. This growth, over the years, is attributed to the rise in digital platforms.
The emergency of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the subsequent health protocols, including restricted movement aimed at containing its spread, meant that offline transactions shifted to online platforms, making social media an unavoidable part of society and preferred channels of communication and marketing. Thus the world witnessed increased remote working or transactions through the said digital platforms.
However, digital communications and transactions have attracted scammers who are out to take advantage of unsuspecting users online by creating imposter social media pages.
The scammers create pages that are similar and even borrow taglines and official branding to create an impression that the page is the authentic one, yet it is an imposter.
It is common now to browse through your timeline and see an influential person or a company flagging an impersonating account.
So, how can you tell if a page is not legitimate and avoid falling prey to scammers?
Verification mark
Scammers always impersonate leading brands or influential persons to give them some form of credibility.
A verification mark is a small tick that appears next to an account, page, or channel. The verification mark helps users to know that the account, which is often of public interest, is authentic.
To differentiate a legitimate page from an imposter one, always look out for the verification mark. For example, PesaCheck debunked a fake TALA page that was purportedly issuing loans to interested persons online.
TALA’s legitimate page is verified, while the imposter page is not. This is one of the key red flags that helped us debunk the page.
Page transparency information
This is a section on Facebook that provides information regarding individual pages. The information available in this section includes when a page was created, the primary locations where it is managed, its manager(s), the confirmed business/organisation that has claimed ownership of the page and whether it has had any name changes or mergers.
One of the key red flags to look out for when reviewing the transparency information is whether the page has had any previous name changes. Most imposter pages change names frequently.
PesaCheck debunked a fake Daily Nation page relying on the transparency information as one of the key red flags.
The page had made three name changes in one month. At creation, the page was mimicking Bomet Woman Representative Linet Chepkorir, aka Toto, but was eventually renamed Daily Nation.
Date of creation
Another feature to look out for is the date of creation of the page or account. Scammers mostly use recently created pages since it is difficult to establish whether the page has been involved in dubious activities before.
Additionally, most organisations and influential persons have been using social media for a long time. Therefore it does not make sense when an account purports to belong to a known organisation, yet it was created a few days ago.
For example, PesaCheck debunked a Twitter account impersonating e-Citizen — the country’s official digital payment platform that enables Kenyans and visitors to access and pay for government services online.
The imposter account was created in October 2022, while e-Citizen has been in operation since 2014.
It is, however, important to note that there are some cases when an imposter page can be older than the legitimate page, as seen in this debunk.
Such a scenario could occur when an old page changes its name and starts mimicking a page that was created after it.
Number of followers and posts
Closely linked to the date of creation is the number of followers. Always check how many likes and followers a page has, as this can give you an idea as to whether the account is authentic.
Since scammers mostly impersonate big brands and influential persons, you do not expect their pages to have few followers.
Make sure to also check how many posts have been made on the page. While doing so, look out for original posts and not replies, shares, reposts, and retweets.
Most imposter pages do not have original posts but instead, respond to queries raised by customers on posts where the authentic page has been tagged or mentioned.
A good example can be seen in this debunk where PesaCheck looked into a Twitter account impersonating Kenya’s Immigration Department.
Wording of username
Usernames are unique identifiers for social media accounts. Once a username is taken, no other account can have the same username.
Aware of the above, scammers always create pages with the same name as the organisation/person being impersonated, but play around with the username.
In most instances, an underscore will be introduced, a letter duplicated, an additional character added or omitted to make the username different from the original one.
For example, PesaCheck debunked a Twitter account impersonating former Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu.
The imposter account had the username ‘@ngunjiriwambug’ while the legitimate account’s username is ‘@ngunjiriwambugu’.
Tone/language used in posts
Tone and the language used in posts are other key red flags that can help you spot an imposter page.
For instance, if a page is mimicking a political leader like the President, a cabinet secretary or the Speaker of the National Assembly, you do not expect it to have remarks that could spite tension.
However, imposters always try to push an agenda and appeal to a particular audience, without paying attention to tone and language.
A good example is this page that impersonated National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula and made remarks that were offensive to the Muslim community.
Poorly written posts
Imposter pages tend to impersonate reputable persons and organisations. However, imposter sites tend to have glaring writing mistakes.
PesaCheck debunked a page impersonating Kenya’s First Lady Rachel Ruto and purporting to issue grants in her name. Some of the posts on the page contained grammar and punctuation deficiencies.
Huge and easily available loans/offers/rewards
Imposter pages thrive on the use of lucrative offers ranging from loans, promotions and rewards.
Aware that accessing loans takes a long process and requirements, imposter pages make it appear simple by asking prospective loanees to send a message via WhatsApp or direct message on Facebook.
PesaCheck debunked a page that mimicked Uasin Gishu Governor Jonathan Bii and purported to issue loans in his name.
For rewards, the imposter pages mostly target politicians and package the rewards as a development project intended to empower communities of a given constituency or appreciation for supporting a candidate.
An example is this debunk by PesaCheck on a page impersonating Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi and purporting to issue motorbikes in collaboration with the World Bank.
According to research published by the Investor, imposters and online scammers use huge rewards to attract unsuspecting netizens, only for them to end up being defrauded.
Do you want us to fact-check something a politician or other public figure has said about public finances? Complete this form, or reach out to us on any of the contacts below, and we’ll help ensure you’re not getting bamboozled.
This report was written by Rodgers Omondi, a current affairs journalist and fact-checker at PesaCheck.
This fact-check was edited by senior copy editor Cédrick Irakoze and acting chief copy editor Francis Mwaniki. It was approved for publication by PesaCheck’s managing editor Doreen Wainainah.
The infographics are by Sakina Salem, a Tanzanian graphic designer, visual artist and digital content producer.
PesaCheck, co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of public services linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as healthcare, rural development and access to water/sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage.
To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.
PesaCheck is a signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles.
