✎ Key Points:
» You can identify fake Instagram followers by checking for profile photos that are either absent, stock, or irrelevant, indicating potential fraud.
» Try using engagement metrics, such as a low follower-to-following ratio and minimal post count, to spot suspicious accounts lacking genuine interactions.
» If you notice irregular posting activity or a lack of content on an account, it’s likely fake; consider analyzing follower authenticity to maintain a genuine follower base.
Contents
How To Find Fake Instagram Followers:
There are several ways in order to spot fake Instagram followers:
1. No DP on profile
Fake users usually do not use their photos on their profile, or they use stock or irrelevant photos. People creating fake accounts usually do not put much effort into making their accounts. Usually, they just keep their bios section blank, or they just fill in the bare minimum details. They sometimes even set their settings to make their profile hidden. This makes your investigation hard, as you can’t see their details.
You should decide for yourself, however, how genuine can somebody be who hides every detail you should consider the lack of a profile picture to be a red flag, particularly in a visual medium like Instagram. Also In some special cases, unscrupulous Instagrammers confuse you by creating fake bios, often using somebody else’s picture in their photos and profiles. These are frequently just images picked up from stock photo sites.
2. Zero like followers Vs Followings
Sincere accounts tend to have very similar follower types when it comes to number of followers, the number of people they follow, and levels of their online activity. Even though everybody operates their accounts separately, and some new users still don’t use their accounts as the old, experienced Instagram user, you can still easily spot fakes.
For Example, they may like and follow thousands of people, but don’t have any or very less people following them in return. They don’t impact anybody.
Higher followers are not better necessarily either, but an activity rate of 10 percent plus could be suspicious activity. If you see active rates that high, the user could be using artificial engagement methods, such as being part of an artificial group.
3. Lack of Posts or No Personal Posts
Usually, fake followers don’t have regular posting activity or much activity at all, so they might have just a few posts on their page just to make the public eye believe that their account is real, or no content at all.
This does not always mean that the account is fake but, unorganized posts, very few posts, and random posts indicate an account that may be fake and artificial. Maybe they don’t make any, posts themselves. This doesn’t always mean that they are fake, but it does hint to you towards what little value as a follower they have. The fake profiles generally have empty bios and empty profiles if not irrelevant and clueless ones.
4. Find Generic Comments
Some of the over-experienced smart artificial accounts and also some of the more dishonest human-operated accounts, create comments to make them look real. The problem is that these comments are bot-type and lack content.
For example, you might find that an account that usually comments nice picture or good job, which is so robotic, some accounts leave irrelevant comments, mostly trying to sell something. Sometimes these are poorly thought through and taken out sale methods.
In other cases, they are more sinister, encouraging you to leave contact information, so they steal your identity. While these comments are an artificial activity, they have no actual value to a brand or company that is looking for an influencer to persuade his / her followers that the brand’s product will be suitable for them. Of course, it is not always as simple as that.
The people who run the fake accounts often rely on the law of reciprocity. Most people will automatically follow somebody back who follows them. The fake accounts typically follow thousands of accounts, get almost as many followers back, and then a few days later unfollow people (who don’t notice the fact they have been unfollowed). This keeps their ratios more acceptable so they can go through the process again with another unsuspecting set of Instagram users.
🔯 What Encourages these Fake Accounts on Instagram?
You all have probably seen these types of ads which compel us by showing us followers buying and their rates like “As low as $4 for 500 Followers 100% Real Instagram Followers”.
If you’re a business struggling to gain online traction and influencer for growth, or someone wanting to become an influencer quickly, these ads can look so tempting and people often give in. This gives rise to excessive spam accounts to create fake followers and the process goes on.
