Fake Influencers (and How to Identify Them)

Anyone else tired of fake influencers? I keep receiving spam from social boost accounts trying to get me to purchase follows and likes, and seeing how some people I know online are doing this type of fraud, it’s time to call that shit out!

It seems in this day and age, low vibrational liars choose to advertise their narcissism online, while trying to hack the system believing they will rake in the cash by posting pictures of themselves and some random product occasionally. Plus, they don’t have any legitimate websites, no LLC or ABN, and prey on the vunerable and gullible to achieve ill percieved dominance.

Little do they realise that all of their lies and deception is there for everyone to see, especially by PR agencies who have connections with social media companies to check on the validity of followers, likes and posts. These extensive background checks are performed on any potential new ‘influenza’ they consider signing, so purchasing likes, followers or posts will quickly be discovered, exposing that person as a fraudster. These companies don’t just look at the number of followers but also genuine engagement rate. Plus, you need to game the algorithm by posting multiple times a day plus other requirements so the occasional post will never cut the cheese, and they will never ever become the influencer they think they will be.

There are tools are available online, like modash.io which will confirm if the account has fake followers, the country they are from (usually Russia, Brazil and China as this is where most fake farms are located) and the way the account is viewed by PR and marketing agencies. Modash will also allow you to check accounts to see if they are legit or not, so make sure you’re using Modash or other sites like this before you hand over your money to a fraudster!

Besides online tools, there are quick and easy ways to identify a faker just by looking at their account/profile:

Engagement Activity: Real follower accounts produce real activity, so if someone has 30k followers but only 30 likes on a post, this represents an active follower base of 0.01% - a clear sign their followers are fake!  You want to be looking for about a realistic 3-7% interaction for the account to be real. In the following examples, the lower baseline of 3% shows what you should expect to see.

10k followers = 300 likes/interactions per post minimum

20k followers = 600 likes/interactions per post minimum

30k followers = 900 likes interactions per post minimum

Now, likes/interactions can also be bought but to check this, simply cross pollinate.

Cross Pollination: Real followers cross pollinate their follows between platforms - a genuine follower will be on their IG, FB and other social media accounts as well. Most people will try to use the same or similar version of their handle making those accounts easy to spot.

Sudden Increase in Followers: A legitimate successful account is lucky to get 30 followers PER DAY! Over the course of a year, thats 10k followers so if you notice an influencer has gone up over that amount in less than a year (usually overnight), thats a fake influencer who has purchased followers! There are online tools that can show dates and times when an account has been followed, and observing spikes in this is evidence of purchased lies. Plus, those sites selling followers usually sell in batches of thousands so the spike increase will be a rounded number.

Check the Followers of that Account: if the bio of the follower is old/out of date/incorrect, has numbers or an unusual profile name, has few posts will almost no engagement, then no one is maintaining the account and most likely FAKE.

Finally, if you notice a potential fake account - just report it! Most social media companies take these allegations seriously and can review the connections of the account. Let them do the work and if the account has been found to break the terms and conditions, it's goodbye to those permanent low vibrational liars!