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First and foremost, somebody with a fake account is?almost by definition?a con artist. Unless you run with that crowd, you probably don't want them in your life

The impostor might also be setting you up to steal your identity or valuable information from you that they can use to manipulate someone else.

2.Don't talk to strangers. At the least, think twice about accepting friend requests from people you don't know and who are not connected to you through legitimate, verifiable means. If you're not sure, do the following:

Ask them questions: What makes them want to be your friend? How did they find out about you? Who do you know in common? By clicking on their name, you can see if you have any mutual friends. If you do, contact your friend. If not then that's a big red flag.

3. At the very least, it can be fun. You might also find out that your would-be "friend" is really bad news. 

4.Read the profile carefully. Does what is being said add up or are there some really hard-to-believe statements being made?

5.Check out their profile picture. Is there only one? Is it way too perfect or does it seem touched up in any way? Maybe you've seen it before? A good photo ? or a touched up one ? may not be a negative sign, but it could be that they've simple scoured Google for an attractive photo, thinking nobody would ever find out. 

Try this: Click and drag their profile picture to your desktop.

6.Launch Google Chrome or Firefox, and navigate to Google Images.

Drag and drop the profile pic into the search field: it will expand, as shown:

Google will either return an exact match (with information like names), or pictures similar to the original.

7.Search their name online to see if it returns. This won't be so useful if the name is a common one, but for a more unusual one there might be some interesting returns. 

If they have a common name, add other information such as their location, approximate age, or any other information you can glean from their profile.

8. Check out their friends. Are their friends global or local? The more local the friends, the more likely the person is to be real. The more global their friendship list, with very few or no local friends, start getting suspicious.

9.Block the request. If you don't have a good feeling about somebody, there's a simple solution: don't just turn down the request for friendship, block them completely.

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