I opened Instagram yesterday and I felt popular. Three new friend requests! Wow. Am I famous? Am I finally an influencer?
I clicked on the first profile. Name: “Dr. James William.” Bio: “Orthopedic Surgeon 🏥 | God Fearing 🙏 | Widowed | Looking for True Love.” Photos: Six blurry pictures of a very handsome man in scrubs, two pictures of a random dog, and one picture of a motivational quote about “Trust.”
I sighed. I deleted the request. Because unless a widowed orthopedic surgeon has absolutely zero friends and a desperate need to DM random strangers in a different time zone… this is a scam.
We are living in the Golden Age of Fake Profiles. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Dating Apps they are absolutely infested. Some estimates say that up to 20% of accounts on social media are bots or scammers. That means every fifth person you see online might not actually exist.
It’s creepy. It’s annoying. And if you aren’t careful, it can be expensive. I have an aunt who lost $500 to a “Military General” who needed money for a “plane ticket home.” (Spoiler: The General was a teenager in a cafe in Lagos).
Here is how you can develop a “Sixth Sense” for spotting these fakes before they even type “Hello Dear.”
1. The “Generic Handsome” Trap (Visual Forensics)
Scammers are lazy. They steal photos from the internet. Usually, they steal photos of:
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US Military personnel (to look trustworthy).
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Doctors (to look wealthy).
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Models (to look attractive).
The “Pixel Check”: Look closely at the photos. Are they blurry? In 2026, every smartphone takes 4K photos. If “Dr. James” posts a photo that looks like it was taken with a toaster in 2009, it’s because he screenshotted it from someone else’s profile. Pixelation = Theft.
The “AI Hand” Problem: Lately, scammers are using AI to generate faces so they can’t be reverse-searched. But AI is stupid. It struggles with hands and backgrounds. Look at the fingers. Does the person have 6 fingers? Is their thumb melting into their coffee cup? Is the text on the street sign behind them gibberish alien language? If yes, you are talking to a computer. Block it.
2. The Follower Ratio (Math Doesn’t Lie)
This is the single easiest way to spot a bot. Real humans have a balance. We follow 300 people, we have 250 followers. Or maybe we follow 1,000 and have 500.
The Bot Ratio:
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Following: 4,500 people.
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Followers: 12.
Why does this happen? Because the bot script runs a command to “Follow Everyone” hoping for a follow-back. Nobody follows them back because the account looks like trash. If you see a 4000:12 ratio, run away. That is not a human being. That is a script.
3. The “Love Bomb” (Romance Scammers)
This is specific to dating apps and Facebook DMs. Real relationships take time. They are awkward. You talk about the weather. You complain about your job.
Scammers don’t have time. They are working on a quota. They will escalate things from “Hello” to “You are my soulmate” in roughly 45 minutes.
The Script: “I have never felt this connection with anyone before.” “Distance is just a number.” “My wife died 4 years ago and I have been lonely until I saw your profile picture.”
If someone is professing their undying love to you within 24 hours of matching, it’s not because you are irresistible (sorry, I’m sure you’re great). It’s because they are trying to hook you emotionally so they can ask for money next week. Real people are not this intense. Real people are terrified of rejection. Scammers are fearless.
4. The “Reverse Image Search” (The Nuclear Option)
If you are really unsure maybe the profile looks kinda real, but something feels off use the nuclear weapon.
Google Lens (or Yandex Images).
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Save their profile picture.
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Upload it to Google Images.
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See where else it appears.
I did this once with a girl I matched with on Tinder. She looked real. We chatted for a day. I reverse-searched her photo. Turns out, her photo was from a Russian bridal magazine from 2016. And it was also used on 50 different fake profiles with names ranging from “Natasha” to “Emily.” I confronted her. She (or he) unmatched me instantly. Bullet dodged.
5. The “No Digital Footprint” Ghost
We all leave a digital trail. If you Google my name, you’ll find my LinkedIn, maybe an old Twitter account, maybe a track meet result from high school.
Scammers are ghosts. They usually claim to be “High Profile” people CEOs, Gold Traders, Oil Rig Engineers. If you Google “James William Oil Engineer” and nothing comes up? That’s impossible. You can’t be a CEO and not exist on Google. If the only place they exist is on that one Instagram profile created last Tuesday… they aren’t real.
The Tangent (Why do they do it?)
(Honestly, sometimes I feel bad for the guys on the other end. Not the ones running the crypto scams those guys are evil but the low-level grunts. In some countries, this is an actual 9-to-5 job. They go to an office, sit in a cubicle, and pretend to be an American doctor for 8 hours a day. It’s an industry. It’s industrialized heartbreak. But then I remember my aunt losing $500 and I stop feeling bad. Screw them).
The Endgame: The Money Ask
It always, always ends with money. That is the only reason they are talking to you.
Eventually, the script will drop:
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“My bank account is frozen.”
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“I need a Steam Gift Card for my son.” (Why is it always Steam cards?!)
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“I found a glitch in Bitcoin, send me $100 and I’ll turn it into $1,000.”
The Rule: Never send money to someone you haven’t met in person. Ever. Not even $5. If they are a wealthy surgeon, they don’t need your $50. If they are a US General, the Army feeds them. The moment money is mentioned, the friendship is over. Block. Report. Delete.
The Bottom Line
The internet is a weird place in 2026. You have to be paranoid. Treat every stranger like they are guilty until proven innocent. If they are too hot, too rich, or too in love with you… it’s a lie.
Trust your gut. If it feels sketchy, it is sketchy. Now go clean up your follower list. You probably have a few “Generals” lurking there right now.
