How to know who is behind an Instagram profile

How to know who is behind an Instagram profile step by step

Tips to know if an Instagram profile is fake

Do you suspect that the Instagram profiles of some users who contacted you on this social network are false? Well then let me give you some advice on how to understand who is behind an Instagram profile.

Check your profile information

Verify your profile information It is one of the first things you must do to understand who is behind an Instagram account. In general, users who use fake profiles partially complete the public information present in them.

Some don't enter any profile bio information, haven't posted any content, and sometimes don't even have a profile picture.

However, be careful not to get confused with private Instagram profiles. They are something else. Some users, to preserve their privacy may have put the private profile on Instagram: this does not necessarily mean that it is a fake profile, the user may simply have decided not to share information that concerns him with anyone.

Another piece of advice I'd like to give you is the following: if there are links to sites of Internet, try to find information about the reputation of the sites in question (you can do a search in Google or in places like WOT).

Consult comments and mentions

Another trick that you would do well to follow to find out who is hiding behind an Instagram profile is that of Check comments and mentions. Comments and mentions are a bit like the crumbs that users leave on the social network. From comments and mentions it is possible to understand the behavior of other Instagram subscribers and obtain some information from these clues about the authenticity of an account.

In other cases, you may not be able to trace the identity of a profile by checking comments and mentions for a very simple reason: some users who create fake profiles are careful not to make missteps that could arouse suspicion. Generally, those who assume this type of precautionary behavior intend to spy on registered users on Instagram, trying to act in the shadows.

Check direct messages

One of the easiest ways to know if a spammer is hiding behind an Instagram profile or, in any case, a fake is check direct messages

If a user floods you with messages that contain links and invitations To buy who knows what amazing product, it is clear that he is a spammer or, worse, a real scammer. Stay away from this and immediately block the user in question.

When reviewing the messages in your account, also pay close attention to those who ask you to reveal personal information, including photos and videos. Typically, these users try to gain trust over time, perhaps by pretending to know some of the victim's friends, and once they have successfully ingratiated themselves with the victim, they attempt to steal the information they seek.

Check the list of followers

Check the list of followers It is another way to understand who is behind an Instagram profile. When viewing the list of followers of a suspicious account, you must take into account at least two aspects: the number of followers and followed users and their origin.

Let's say a user has thousands of followers: at first glance you might think they are a user real, but once you have seen the list of followers, you can change your mind when you discover that the users who follow the profile in question have no connection with each other (for example, they may come from different nationalities).

In this specific case, it is very likely that you are facing the profile of a spammer who has artificially bought followers in order to appear a little more credible.

If, on the other hand, a user has very few followers (or does not even have them), the profile you are monitoring could have been created to spy on other users, perhaps by sending Direct messages (as I have already explained some of the previous paragraphs).

Also in this case, paying attention to the origin of the followers (if any) is essential to track the identity of the Instagram profile. If almost all the users who follow the suspicious profile come from other nationalities, despite the user using a Spanish name and / or claiming to be one, you should start to be suspicious.

Check the provenance of the published photos

A somewhat clever way to find out who is behind an Instagram profile is to check the provenance of the published photos. If you are faced with a fake profile, it is very likely that the user in question has posted photos downloaded from the Internet with the intention of deceiving you. Are you wondering how you can proceed in this case? Simple, doing a quick search in a search engine (eg. Google ).

To be a bit more specific, you can search by images and find the source from which the photo was finally downloaded in a few seconds. To continue with this verification, download the photos whose origin you want to verify in your mobile phone the PC (You can download both the published photos and those present in the stories created by the suspicious user).

Then, access the search engine of your choice and use the image search function to start your research.

Once you have obtained the search results, analyze them to understand if you are in front of a real Instagram profile or not: if the photos come from the websites or social accounts of the user in question, well ... otherwise it is very likely that you are in front of a false profile.

Verify account verification

Do you want to know if the account that (presumably) belongs to a public figure is authentic or not? No problem. Instagram marks official accounts of public figures with a blue symbol  (✓).

If an account belonging to a public figure does not have the symbol in question, it has obviously not been verified by Instagram and therefore it is very likely that it is a false profile. Stay away from this - you are probably a spammer trying to get attention by proposing to sell your products or services.

Who is behind an Instagram profile

As I already mentioned at the beginning, even if you follow the advice given in this tutorial, you cannot know with absolute certainty who is the owner of an account (except verified profiles).

The only way to find out who a profile belongs to is to ask the user (in the hope that they are honest and tell the truth about their identity!).

Since it is unlikely that a spammer or scammer will confess that they are, it is very likely that you will not be able to trace the true identity of the user in question.

However, thanks to the advice I gave you in the previous chapters, you can at least understand if you are in the presence of a user to stay away from and you can take the necessary measures to protect yourself (for example, you can block the user in question and / or report itby pressing the button ... located in the upper right and selecting the appropriate item from the menu that appears.