To track a fake facebook account, one does not need to be a technical expert or a tech savvy person. All one needs is an Internet connection, a newly created Facebook account and a valid e-mail id from any service provider such as Gmail, yahoo etc. This is surely a relief since the possibility of someone stealing your credentials and creating a fake Facebook account is quite high in today’s Internet world that is jam-packed with experienced cyber criminals. In order for you to safeguard your reputation and client base, it is imperative that you take an immediate action with respect to this issue. Once you come to know that there is another person out there who is pretending to be you and exploiting your credentials, taking appropriate actions becomes crucial. If you presume contacting the Support team on Facebook is a good idea, then you are wrong. They are of no help in such matters. The best and smartest way to identify the imposter would be track his/her location by finding the IP address from which the fake account has been created. This could be a challenging yet rewarding task. In the below steps, we will go through the process of finding the IP address and then tracing out his location.
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To Track a fake profile on facebook
- Once you spotted your fake facebook account holder, send that person a friend request and include a catchy message that entices the person into accepting your request. This way you could trace down their fake facebook account.
- Urge the person to contact you through an email by making an offer that is hard to refuse.
- Patiently wait for the person to reply. When he does, click on the ‘down arrow’ next to the ‘Reply’ button on the mail. Click on ‘Show Original’.
- All the IP addresses involved in routing of your email including the source IP address will follow the text ‘Received From’. So it could be tedious to locate the IP address from which the mail originated. It would most probably be the one that is listed at the bottom-most end of the page or farthest from the text “Received From”.
- An easier approach is to go to lookup on this site and paste the message header in the input box after which the IP address will automatically be displayed to for you.
- Now that you have the IP address, track the location using several online tools. Since you need to track a fake Facebook account holder, you can also hire an investigator to do this task for you
You should be careful once you know who the impostor is. It definitely would not be just a friend playing a prank or a school going kid wanting to have fun. It is most probably someone with criminal intentions and so could pose a threat to you and your safety. It is best to approach the criminal through lawful ways and save yourself from any harm. So, to track a fake Facebook account is an easy job, however confronting the impostor is a dangerous task and hence it is better to leave the task to professionals.
You are aware of the fact that you tracked down the registered city of the IP address of the imposter’s outbound email server, right? Look at the hostname. Some people’ email does get sent from their home directly to you, though. Also, what possible criminal intentions did you have in mind?
Regardless, this is pretty useless without getting more info.
@Andrew;
You are right, but most often the emails are sent from the home ip. If that’s not the case, I guess the information above might not be of much help. But you can still prevent them from doing further harm by contacting facebook directly or informing the cops.
Identity theft is the common intention. You can just imagine what sort of details the impostor (impersonating you) might get hold of by getting in touch with your contacts.
Thanks for reading and commenting. Please share or subscribe for more interesting tricks and tips
Regards,
Chris
Excellent web site. Lots of useful information here. I am sending it to several friends ans also sharing in delicious. And obviously, thanks for your sweat!
but,its just not easy to make the person reply to my mail account.infact,its next to impossible as the person would rather reply from the facebook account(imposter) itself.even if we try to get him to reply in the mail account,he might even alert himself.so,any ways to get to the ip address via the facebook account?
I will update the article soon with an alternate method.
Regards!
Any progress on an updated method? I have someone harassing me and would like to verify their location and if possible identity.
Thank you.
how bout if they use a fake acc, and i just have their id where she upload my photos to this page?
Nope! However if you suspect acounct fraud, which this basically is, you can try contacting facebook customer support and asking them to remove the offending page.But good luck with that facebook customer support is basically non existent and the hoops you have to jump through just to get an email to them mean you might as well try summoning them by hopping around a campfire while reciting the bible backwards on a full moon, for all the good it’ll do. They really are godawful.Your best bet is to just give as good as you get. Make one for him! Like for like, like. Bonus points if you include crudely photoshopped images of him in compromising positions.
some one created fake face book account with my name and my image.this happend for me 2nd time.Iam so tensed if they misuse my pic?? plese help me out
I’ve found out that someone has created a fake facebook account of mine with my picture. im always checking the account but its been a week that the account has no update since it was created. I’ve created another account and sent a friend request to locate his ip address. unfortunately, he’s not responding to my friend request yet. i’ve also found out that same user name was created on yahoo that the account flooded my mobile number. the person who created my fakes accounts seems not communicating with me.
is there a possibility to find the ip address of that fake account even if he don’t email me?
If the fake account holder doesn’t reply, the chances of tracking down the account is down to zero. However, you can ask your friends to report the account (the more it gets, reported, the better) and facebook would temporarily disable the account which won’t be reactivated unless they disclose their id to facebook.
Hope that helps!
what should i do if my friends are receiving msgs in abusive language from an fb account which shows my name n identity
what should i do to show my friends that its not me massaging them
and plz tel how to find that person who has done this..
plz reply its urgent
Thanks , I’ve just been looking for information about this topic for ages and yours is the greatest I have discovered till now. But, what about the conclusion? Are you sure about the source?
Hello, i want to knw the user of fake account but he/she not accepting the request of mine…. can u help me???? reply soon. i really need it..
good job.. but i would like to more if i could track ip without getting a message frm fake id.. can that b possible ?? or how can i track ip when that particular account is last used???
will b waiting 4 ur reply..
thanx..
….
Thank you for the tip. I wrote a blog on spotting fake Facebook profiles yesterday: http://blog.spamfighter.com/tips-and-tricks/how-do-i-spot-a-fake-facebook-profile.html
which is of cource the first step before starting to deal with the issue.
I recently received an friend request from a newly created account with only one photo and no profile information; I noticed I was the only friend this person added and so the only conclusion I can come to is that whomever this is created this account specifically to see my facebook. I accepted the request, but wasn’t contacted in any way by the person. I’m sure the photo isn’t of the person who created the profile and after a recent break up I had a hunch it could have been an ex-boyfriend curious to check my recent activity or something, because I can’t really think of anyone else who would feel the need to create a false profile to access my facebook. So I have a few questions:
-Why might someone create a fake profile? And am I likely correct in assuming this is someone who definitely knows me, considering I was the first and only friend this person added (not to mention it’s difficult to find my profile because it’s under a different name)?
-Is there any way for me to trace this profile to an IP address or something to compare it with the address associated with messages I’ve received from the person I believe it to be?
-And is there any possibility of anything negative happening by having accepted this profile, say if I were to message the person– might someone who is knowledgeable about computers and who has a surplus of free time do whatever it is that a cowardly pathetic lowlife troll of an ex-boyfriend does, just in being connected through facebook? I mean, I’m pretty naive about this kind of thing so I don’t even know how to articulate my questions concerning it, but essentially I’m curious if there could be another motive beyond just observing my activity?
Thanks for your time and I hope to hear back; I’m curious about it and would appreciate the insight.
that’s really great way….
besides,i need to deactive that fake account…
is there any way to stop the fake account remotely…
Hi Folks
What it boils down to is this, without being able to view the source of a message/email you cannot obtain thier IP address. Facebook messages within Facebook do not enable us to view the source containing the persons IP address so the only way remaining would be to entice them into sending you an email. Most email providers do enable you to view the email source containing the IP address which can then be used to enter into one of the many free IP address locating sites on the net thus discovering their location. I’m not an expert but hopefully this will make things clearer for those who, like me, were getting a litle confused by it all. Please be aware that frustratingly, the location given will be a town or disrtict within a town, not an actual full address. This is handy if used to narrow down your search.
fake id
The creator of the fake profile has accepted my request, and i have had multiple chats with them, and their email address is listed on their page, but i cannot get them to send me an email. is there anyway i can get the IP still?
i know who is the creator of my fake account , but i do not want to take any judicial action because of some reasons, so i just want to know is there any solution with which i can hack that account ?
hi bro….
I’m here with problem which need ur urgent response…. with n week i’m going to get wed…today my girl called me & told me that her Facebook account is duplicated by someone with her profile picture & her basic details….that fake user is playing with her gmail id & at same time chating with me like her…..please i need your help…..please believe me i’m seriously in big problem & i want safe my grl from all this problem…..
please take time to reply….its my humble request to u….