Fake Facebook Dating Profiles

Online dating has become one of the go-to methods to meet someone in today’s fast-paced society. But it isn’t without its difficulties! If you’re searching for love online, chances are you’ve come across a few fake dating profiles. Or do you find it tricky to spot them?

Know why it is important to spot a fake account. First and foremost, somebody with a fake account. A legitimate dating profile usually has plenty of photos of the person in different situations, with one or two that show the person's whole body, not just part of their face. The individual might also include links to their Instagram or Facebook accounts. In contrast, a dating profile might be fake.

To help you tell a real person from a phony, we’ve put together a list of red flags to watch out for. That way you can say goodbye to time wasters and only focus on genuine connections, ones that have potential.

Fake Dating Profiles: Red Flags to Watch Out For

There’s a limited number of photos on their profile

While a limited number of photos on someone’s dating profile doesn’t automatically prove that you’re falling for a fraud, it’s definitely a red flag.

Everyone knows that their profile photos will be the first thing that catches someone’s attention, and choosing the perfect pictures can be tricky! That’s why fake dating profilesaim to use attractive photos to lure you in. But how do you know if that photo is really of them?

As a rule of thumb, profiles containing more photos are less likely to be a scam. But if you’re feeling unsure about the identity of who you’re speaking to, ask them to send you another photo. Maybe even request a photo of them doing something specific, such as holding up a piece of paper with their name on it, so you know they can’t have gotten this online. Or why not ask them to video chat?

Their profile isn’t linked to any social media accounts

Almost all online dating profiles are linked to a few social media accounts. So if someone is unwilling to connect on any other platform, it’s a little fishy. If you realize that there is no way for you to verify that the person who you’re talking to is real, then that’s a red flag that they might not be.

Sure, maybe they just want to keep their social media accounts private. But if you ask to connect on Instagram or Facebook and they continually refuse, then maybe they’re hiding something. If you’re really invested in this connection, be honest with them about how this is making you question them. And if they still refuse? We suggest pursuing another match, one that is excited to get to know you.

They won’t reveal anything about themselves

There’s nothing better than chatting with a potential match who seems genuinely interested in you. However, if you feel that this attention is only coming your way because your match doesn’t want to reveal anything about themselves, then you could be in a pickle.

If you realize that the person you’re talking to doesn’t seem to answer any questions about themselves, re-evaluate why that is. Often times these fake dating profiles will shift the conversation to manipulating their target. Don’t fall prey to someone giving you the attention you deserve.

Instead, direct the question right back at them and make sure you receive a response that you’re comfortable with. The last thing anyone wants is to tell someone their whole life story to find out that they were talking to a complete fake. Even worse? Some fake dating profiles don’t just try to scam you of your secrets, but of your money too.

Fake dating profiles love making excuses

Catfish are notorious for standing people up. Is your online crush constantly making excuses as to why they can’t meet in person? Or maybe they keep declining your video calls? If you’re looking to take this relationship into the real world, then this isn’t the response you should be looking for.

Sure, meeting in person for the first time can be nerve-wracking. But if you feel that their crazy excuses and rescheduling are less to do with first-date butterflies and more to do with their revealing true identity, you should probably take a step back.

While online dating may have simplified your search for love, it doesn’t mean it’s always going to be easy – dating never is! But the truth is that most people who date online are doing so with good intentions. So take note of our basic guidelines and most of all have fun!

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When Makiz Nasirahmad, a 24-year-old Afghan American who recently lived in Afghanistan, received a Facebook friend request from a woman with an unfamiliar name, she didn’t think twice about accepting it. The woman’s profile picture had clearly been copied off the internet, but Nasirahmad figured that the woman could be a relative of hers, trying to hide her identity; many families in Afghanistan disapprove of women posting their pictures online, so women sometimes hide behind fake names and photos.

Before long, the woman started sending Nasirahmad private messages. “Hello,” she wrote. Then, a couple of days later, another “Hello,” followed by hearts.

Nasirahmad’s new friend, it turned out, wasn’t an aunt or a cousin but a stranger—and a male one at that. As she soon learned, many young Afghan men and women from cities and villages alike have begun using Facebook to skirt strict social rules governing interaction between the sexes. In fact, posing as a member of the opposite sex online has become a popular pastime. In the months following that first request, Nasirahmad received many other friend requests from fake females (a disproportionate number of whom, oddly enough, had profiles bearing Turkish soap-opera stars’ pictures).

Until recently, dating was almost nonexistent in Afghanistan, because of religious and cultural norms that prohibit relationships before marriage. Communication was difficult too: During Taliban rule, people had to cross the border into Pakistan to make an international phone call (domestic calls weren’t easy either). Today, with the arrival of cheap smartphones and affordable mobile internet—about 90 percent of Afghanistan’s population has access to a cellphone—even the poorest people can get on Facebook. Although premarital relationships are still taboo, social media have provided the younger generation with a covert means of online dating.

“Boys usually use this technique to get closer to the girls they like,” says Naweed, an 18-year-old male student in Kabul who had a fake female Facebook profile for more than a year. (He asked to be identified by only his first name, because his family would not approve of him dating.) “I was talking to girls for fun, and I enjoyed it a lot.” Many men first try to friend their crushes using their real profile; if this fails, they resort to creating a fake account.

Naweed says a man typically waits before revealing his true identity. After he’s made the woman feel comfortable, he lays his cards on the table and says he has liked her for a while, but because she didn’t accept his friend request, he had to use a fake profile. This, Naweed says, helps build trust.

Fake Facebook Dating Profiles List

Women sometimes seek out boyfriends this way too. They create a fake male profile, friend a crush, and try to find out whether he has a girlfriend. But instead of confessing her trick, a woman will tell the object of her affection that she knows a woman who likes him, direct him to her true profile, and wait for him to make a move.

Maryam Mehtar, an Afghan journalist, told me she has received so many friend requests from fake female profiles on Facebook that she’s lost count—and some are from people whose intentions are anything but amorous. Once, she accepted a request from a female user with whom she had many mutual Facebook friends, most of them relatives. “I thought I knew her,” she says. “Everything she asked me, I usually honestly answered.” Later, she found out from friends that the profile belonged to a man who tried to collect private information and photos from women and then use it to blackmail them.

This problem is so pervasive that some women now create fake male profiles on Facebook—often using their brothers’ or cousins’ names—just to avoid such harassment.

An amorous man posing as a woman … to woo a woman. An amorous woman posing as a man … to woo a man. Still other women pretending to be men to avoid the attention of men—avaricious, amorous, and otherwise. As gender-bending plot devices go, these ones seem worthy of a Shakespearean comedy.

This article appears in the September 2018 print edition with the headline “Big In … Afghanistan: Facebook Fake-outs.”