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Social media’s ongoing, lackadaisical attitude towards fake accounts makes it inordinately easy for nefarious actors to take advantage of the platforms. Easy entry allows social media scams to flourish. With easy entry on multiple platforms and the ability to create many fake accounts, scammers are given ample feeding ground. The platforms and their algorithms just can’t seem to keep up, which continuously puts real users in harms way.
While documenting new Twitter bots, our lead bot researcher came across an interesting (and obviously fake) account that was created in August 2019. It didn’t take us long to discover that this fake account is just one of many scammer accounts using the same profile.
Meet Sebrina, the Multi-Named Scammer
This “Sebrina” account is supposedly located in the UK. The profile is a middle-aged woman who works for Al Rayan Bank of Britain (a legitimate though somewhat scandal-ridden entity).
Sebrina’s Social Media Scam: Twitter Accounts
In addition to the above Twitter account, “Sebrina” has this one. Check out those far-fetched numbers. The account follows nobody and has only tweeted six times, but it has over 1,200 followers.
There is this seemingly unused account as well.
A Google search produced this Twitter account (with some Russian writing in it), which was suspended by Twitter.
Sebrina’s Social Media Scam: Facebook Accounts
It turns out that “Sebrina” uses another name, “Sarah Matteo.” The scammers use both names on multiple Facebook accounts. Two of the the URLs for the accounts contain names quite different from either “Sebrina” or “Sarah Matteo.”
One of these social media scam accounts made an obvious error. It claimed that “Sebrina” started working for Al Rayan Bank in 1995. The bank, however, wasn’t founded until 2004.
The Deception is Real
A lot of pictures of the same woman and even some messages about integrity and honesty could lure people into believing these accounts are real.
The Scam
So, what’s the scam? Through social media, these accounts convince real users to give them contact information. They proceed to email the real users with sob stories and attempt to scam them out of their money. “Sebrina” is well-known in scam-tracker circles.
Social Media Platforms Have A Real, Fake Account Problem
Multiple fake accounts. Multiple social media platforms. And this is just one scam. Social media platforms are rife with fake scam accounts and many types of fakes can be traced across multiple platforms.
Social media scams are simply too easy to run. Get a few fake accounts suspended? Just jump on one of the others. Maybe create a few new ones. It’s truly that easy. And it will remain that way until social media platforms take honest, decisive action to clean up their platforms.
Written by Unhackthevote
Read More About Fake Social Media Accounts:
Fake Social Media Accounts, Real World Impact
Social Media Platforms Should Delete Dormant Accounts
States are Cracking Down on Companies that Sell Fake Social Media Accounts
Elsa Darner Twitter Troll-bots
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