Nowadays most of people rely on digital communication for interaction with their peers. One of such widely used platforms is Telegram which is renowned for its mass communications channels or anonymous profiling. However, this also benefits scammers or impersonators who create fake profiles to trap users. That’s why knowing how to identify fake Telegram accounts is very crucial to protect your privacy while using the app.
In this guide, we’ll share with you some signs helping you quickly identify fake Telegram accounts. Along with this we’ll tell you some tips to deal with the situation on encountering suhc fake profiles. Keep reading!
What is a fake Telegram account?
“A fake Telegram account is one in which scammers pretend to be others or something its not to deceive people.”
Telegram is a cloud-based messaging application that allows its users to get in touch with their peers in real-time. Its worth noting that the app itself is secure ensuring strong chat encryption. However Telegram’s above-a-billion-user base and anonymous profiling open doors for scammers.
Impersonators actually know that people are mostly drawn to interact with celebrities or public figures. They take advantage of this and copy the name & photo of real people or companies to gain your trust. The common motives of doing so is to steal your sensitive information. While some create fake accounts for data mining where they get insights to your activities or chat patterns to misuse them later
Signs of a fake Telegram account
If you want to remain safe from such fake Telegram profiles, before initiating any conversation watch out for the following warning signs!
- Profile picture: Fake accounts usually first of all have no profile picture, if they do it would definitely be a stock image. Keep in mind that scammers may copy the images from social media to look trustworthy. However, if the picture looks so perfect and or even too ordinary, be cautious it may be fake.
- Username: Look for the username, if it’s messed up like a random combination of letters or numbers its a warning sign. This is because the real persons didn’t use such ordinary usernames. They always add something unique, short names that reflects their identity and make them easily searchable.
- Account activity: In addition, check the account activity like no. of posts, messages or followers count. If it seems inactive or has little interaction despite claiming to be brand or celebrity it’s indeed a fake one. Keep in mind that legitimate accounts usually have a long history of active participation in the community.
- Profile details: Take a closer look at the profile details, especially the bio. This is because scam accounts basically leave this section empty or vague. However, the legitimate one add informative bios that clearly describe the account owner and purpose of creating account.
- Suspicious links: Scammers mostly share suspicious links on their accounts. By clicking such links you’ll be directed to phishing websites or trigger malware downloads thereby putting your privacy at risk.
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Use parental controls to know your teens Telegram status.
How to verify a Telegram account？
If you notice any of the above-mentioned signs, take a pause and perform some simple step to verify the suspicious telegram account. Hopefully, by following the guidelines mentioned below, you’ll truly decide whether the account is fake or not!
- Check mutual contacts: First of all, review whether the person contacting you on Telegram is in your contacts list or not. Along with this check if that telegram account shares mutual contacts. If you found no connections at all, its truly a suspicious one.
- Search the username: Next, you’ll search the username online to see if its been linked to other fake account. This is because most of the scammers reuse the username across multiple fake accounts. This step would indeed help you identify the patterns of suspicious activity.
- Ask personal questions: In addition, if the person claiming to be your peer, while engaging ask them the questions that only your connections know. Trust me its a strong way to spot the impersonators because such fake persons would either give vague answers or try to change the topic.
- Look for verified accounts: One of the strongest clues to verify the real accounts is to look at the blue checkmark (✔) before the name. It’s actually a verification badge that Telegram itself provides to public figures after verifying their authenticity. However keep one thing in mind that not all legitimate accounts are verified since this checkmark is given to only notable accounts.
What to do if you encounter a fake account
If you come across any fake Telegram accounts, instead of ignoring act quickly and take practical steps. Let’s have a look at what strategies you can adopt to to prevent scams!
Report the account:
Step 1: Open Telegram and go to the chat of the person you wish to report.
Step 2: Next, you’ll click on their profile icon usually at the top right corner of the screen. Once you click a pop-up menu will appear. Just tap the report button from the menu.
Step 3: Choose the reason for reporting the target user, like spam, scam, or fake account. You can also provide additional details about their offence when prompted. After this click the submit or send option.
You can also report the account directly using the @NoToScam bot on Telegram. You’ll just search for the @NoToScam on Telegram > choose Report Impersonation. Then detail the scammer’s account info.
Block the account:
After informing the Telegram moderation team about the scam accounts, now its time to block the account. This would prevent user from personally messaging you.
Step 1: Launch Telegram and tap the conversation with the person you want to block.
Step 2: Tap the three dots (⋮) in the top-right corner and select “Block User option from the menu bar. Finally confirm your action.
Stay cautious with personal information:
Never share your confidential details like passwords, bank details, OTP codes, or personal documents to any unknown person. Moreover always double-check before responding to links, messages or file requests from unknown accounts.
Tips for staying safe for teens on Telegram
Teens because their immaturity are more vulnerable to being tricked by scammers on Telegram. Being a parent, ensuring your kids’ digital safety must be your top priority. Although it’s not always possible to predict what new strategies scammers will use to trick you. However, to help you in this regard, here are some tips which you can follow to ensure a safe digital atmosphere for kids.
Enable two-factor authentication (2FA):
2FA is actually a method of verifying users identity on platforms like Telegram. Here is how you can activate this feature on Telegram to add a extra layer of security for your teens.
Step 1: On your Telegram app, click the three horizontal lines and it will open a side menu before your screen. Tap on Settings.
Step 2: Under settings, choose the Privacy and Security > Two-Step Verification.
Step 3: Next set a password and always try to create a strong password containing special characters > Continue.
Step 4: Finally enter the Recovery Email to get the Verification code.
Use Telegram’s privacy settings to control who can contact you
It’s notable that Telegram also allows its users to control their privacy. For instance it lets you decide who can view your phone number, profile photo, last seen status and who can add you to groups or channels.
You can set all these options to My Contacts” or “Nobody,, thereby limit your teens access to people they know and trust.
Regularly review and update privacy settings
However, once you set all the privacy settings, don’t think all is done. The important work actually starts from there like monitoring such settings. This is because a phone reset may diminish such settings. That’s why make a routine to regularly review and if necessary, update them according to your teens comfort level.
Use parental controls:
In addition to above, having a parental control app is a step further in supervising your kids digital activities. Among all, FlashGet Kids is the most parents favorite because it provides a one-stop solution to ensure the online safety of your kids.
- App blocker: There is possibility that scammers may instill kids to download any inappropriate apps. FlashGet Kids allows you to make a list of apps you want to allow your kids and those you dont want. Plus if kids try to access any newly downloaded app you’ll get an instant alert
- Usage Report: Provides a full summary of your kid’s device usage. For example it enables you to know the types of apps your kids are using and how much time they have spent on specific applications.
- Content filtering: You can also customise the keywords related to inappropriate content on social apps including Telegram. If kids browse content containing these set keywords you’ll get an instant alert.
- Notifications and alerts: Let you to sync the notifications of your kids’ devices on your own device. This way, whenever your kids receive any notification, like Telegram, it will instantly notify you too.
- Real-time screen mirroring: It also lets you see and listen to your kids’ online activities in real time. You can see to who they are chatting on Telegram.
Conclusion
From all the above discussion we have concluded that scammers create fake Telegram accounts to trick people. Whenever you get a message from an unknown profile double-check their profile details, usernames or their account activity. If you found something suspicious, without wasting time quick report or block such accounts.
However, when it comes to teens you have to stay extra vigilant to ensure a safe digital space for them. Besides enabling telegram privacy settings its best to leverage parental control tools like FlashGet Kids. It would act as a digital bodyguard for your kids, keeping them safe from any potential dangers by providing you real-time alerts about their every digital move.
